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J 

A HISTORY 


OF 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY 


AND THE 


CITY OF CLEVELAND 


BY 


WILLIAM R. COATES 


u 


Assisted by a Board of Advisory Editors 


/ 

HISTORICAL AND 
BIOGRAPHICAL 


ILLUSTRATED 


VOLUME 1 


PUBLISHERS 


THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 
1924 







F "<H 1 

A A 

e V 


Copyright, 1924 

BY 

The American Historical Society, Inc. 


NOV15 *24 



©CH80’ 847 


% 


INTRODUCTION 


“We review the past, not in order that we may return to it, but that we 
may find in what direction, straight and clear, it points into the future.”— 
Calvin Coolidge. 

In writing the history of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland, 
covering a period of 128 years, we shall draw upon the recorded history 
that has gone before and gather from the memories of the living. We shall 
write with a personal touch because during half of the period mentioned we 
have witnessed the marvelous development of this favored region of our 
fair land. 

We shall strive for accuracy, but it must be remembered that there are 
differences in our local histories. These are only natural and do not affect 
the main features. The accounts of eyewitnesses to an occurrence of 
yesterday will vary in many details. 

We shall give emphasis to the pioneers who wielded the ax as well as 
those who gave of their brain in the formation of this new civilization, to 
the men and women who laid the foundations, built the first fires, established 
law and order and maintained their supremacy—to Lorenzo Carter as well 
as Moses Cleveland. 

We anticipate it will be a pleasant task to review the past as well as to 
take stock of the present. Said Judge John J. Sullivan in an address 
before the Early Settlers’ Association: “What a wonderful thing it is to 
be able to appreciate all the memories of the past, the early days, the 
primeval woods, the old log hut, the. vine clad cottage, moonlight and stars 
above, the roaring streams, the silence of the woods, the song of the birds, 
the early struggles, the virgin nature—picturesque, beautiful, entrancing— 
a dream of the future before our vision.” 

We ask the reader to go with us as we follow the growth of the city and 
county, now holding a position in population, wealth and influence, not 
dreamed of by the founders and only hinted at by the men of vision in 
later years. 

Our task is large but most inviting. 


The Author. 









CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I 

Before the Red Man and the Forests Our Pioneers Found. . 3 

CHAPTER II 

The Vanished Empire. 9 

CHAPTER III 

The Cuyahoga River . 17 

CHAPTER IV 

The County and Its Townships. 24 

CHAPTER V 

Bedford. 29 

CHAPTER VI 

Brecksville . 47 

CHAPTER VII 

Brooklyn . 63 

CHAPTER VIII 

Parma . 80 

CHAPTER IX 

Independence . 89 

v 











VI 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER X 

Roy ALTON . ^ 

CHAPTER XI 

Strongsville ... * *0 

CHAPTER XII 

Middlehurg . 121 

CHAPTER XIII 

Dover . 140 

CHAPTER IV 

Olmsted . 155 

CHAPTER XV 

Rock port . 168 

CHAPTER XVI 

Orange . 195 

CHAPTER XVII 

Solon . 212 

CHAPTER XVIII 

Chagrin Falls. 223 

CHAPTER XIX 

Mayfield . 237 

CHAPTER XX 

Euclid . 246 













CONTENTS 


vii 

CHAPTER XXI 

Warrensville . 260 

CHAPTER XXII 

Newburgh . 275 

CHAPTER XXIII 

East Cleveland. 283 

CHAPTER XXIV 

Range 12, Number 8, Cleveland Township. 298 

CHAPTER XXV 

The Village of Cleveland.. 313 

CHAPTER XXVI 

The County and Its Government. 326 

CHAPTER XXVII 

The City of Cleveland. 355 

CHAPTER XXVIII 

Cleveland's Churches and Missions. 380 

CHAPTER XXIX 

Cleveland's Schools and Libraries. 407 

CHAPTER XXX 

The Bench and Bar. 434 

CHAPTER XXXI 

Cleveland's Physicians and Surgeons, Medical Colleges, 

Clinics and Hospitals. 461 













CONTENTS 


viii 

CHAPTER XXXII 

Cleveland Newspapers and Writers. 474 

CHAPTER XXXIII 

Financial Cleveland . 489 

CHAPTER XXXIV 

Cleveland's Industries . 504 

CHAPTER XXXV 

Commercial Cleveland . 515 

CHAPTER XXXVI 

The Fraternal, Patriotic and Labor Organizations, Clubs, 
Benevolent and Civic Societies and Institutions. 525 

CHAPTER XXXVII 

The City Beautiful—Its Parks and Public Buildings, Play¬ 
houses and Homes. 534 

CHAPTER XXXVIII 

Cleveland in the World War. 544 


Bibliography 


555 










INDEX 


Abolitionists, I, 337 
Abram, Lake, I, 121 
Academy, Shaw, I, 259; building, The, 
(illustration) 309; of Music, 360, 408, 
539 

Acid, Hill, I, 92; works, 92 
Ackley, Horace A., I, 463 
Ackley, John A., I, 88 
Ackley, John M., I, 88; II, 73 
Adams, George F., I, 350 
Adams, John E., I, 263 
Adams, Joseph, I, 444 
Addams, George S., Ill, 103 
Adelbert college, I, 427 
Admire, E. E., II, 111 
Admire, Philomene E., II, 112 
Admire Business College, I, 432 
Aenis, Clara L., II, 259 
Aenis, Mary H., II, 258 
Air navigation, I, 521 
Airplane, Early, I, 373; factory, 521; 
mail, 553 

Aiken, S. C., I, 388 
Akins, Albert E., I, 109 
Aitken, David, Sr., II, 296 
Albion, I, 117 

Alexander, Charles A., II 139 

Alexander, Clark, I, 92 

Alger, Henry I, 168 

Alger, Nathan, I, 170; settlement, 170 

Allen, Ben, I, 488 

Allen, Enoch, I, 31 

Allen, Florence E., I, 460, 546; III, 278 
Allen, John W., I, 337, 435 
Allen, Maurice L., Ill, 70 
Ambler, Martha, I, 536 
Ambler, William E., Ill, 304 
Amendment, the Prohibition, I, 524 
American House, I, 359 
American Legion, I, 530 
American Steel and Wire Company, I, 
507 

Americanization, I, 421; Work, 422 
Ames, Ashley, I, 281 
Ammerman, Ralph L., II, 264 
Ammon, Josephine S., I, 87 
Amusement Parks, I, 543 
Ancient Glaciers, I, 4 
Andrews, Horace E., II, 293 
Andrews, Sherlock J., I, 435; (illustra¬ 
tion) I, 450 

Archaeological Study, I, 12 
Armistice Day, I, 553 
Armstrong, Thomas B., Ill, 80 


Armstrong, W. W., I, 344 
Art Building, I, 541 
Art of Writing, I, 11 
Asbury Seminary, I, 228, 231 
Ashery, I, 116 
Asling, George E., Ill, 118 
Associated Charities, I, 531 
Associated Investment Company, The, 
III, 103 

Astrup, Walter C., III, 185 
Astrup, William J. O., Ill, 185 
Athletics, I, 532 

Atlantic & Great Western Railway, I, 
219 

Attorneys, prosecuting, I, 346 

Atwater, Caleb, I, 17, 299 

Atwell, Jesse, I, 144 

Auditorium, I, 376, 378 

Austin, Powder Company, I, 279 

Automobiles, traffic, I, 39; parade, 373; 

Manufacturers, 504, 509 
Authors, I, 485 

Avery, Elroy M., I, 362, 415, 421, 485; 
II, 288 

Aviation Center, I, 521 

Babcock, Charles H., I, 72 
Babka, John J., II, 68 
Backus, Franklyn T., I, 438 
Backus Law School, I, 427 
Bader, Delbert M., II, 71 
Baehr, Herman C., I, 370; III, 121 
Baer, Margaret A., Ill, 270 
Baker, Elbert H., I, 482 
Baker, Inez P., Ill, 100 
Baker, Ira H., Ill, 99 
Baker, Lyman, I, 129 
Baker, Newton D., I, 369, 373; (illus¬ 
tration) 374, 459, 544; III, 168 
Baker, Philip H., Ill, 233 

Baldwin, Charles C., I, 12; (illustra¬ 

tion) 439; 440 
Baldwin, E. I., II, 289 
Baldwin, John, I, 124, 132, 135 
Baldwin, Smith, I, 333 
Baldwin, William, I, 116 

Baldwin Institute, I, 124, 126, 129 

Baldwin Wallace College, I, 132 
Baldwin University, I, 129, 132 
Ball, Webb C., Ill, 163 
Ballou, Clarence M., II, 277 
Ballou, Eliza, I, 204 
Ballou, Philander, I, 89 
Ballou Family, I, 209 



X 


INDEX 


Bancroft, George, I, 489 
Banks, Bedford, I, 42; Lakewood, 193; 
Cleveland, 320; law, 322; Lake Erie, 
360, 489; First Bank of Cleveland, 
490; banking and money, 491; Na¬ 
tional banks, 491; National City, 492; 
First National, 495; Second Na¬ 
tional, 495; Federal Reserve, 499; 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi¬ 
neers’ Cooperative National, 501; 
Central National Savings and Trust 
Company, 501; First Labor, 501; 
Midland, 501; United Savings Com¬ 
pany, 501; Failures, 503 
Bank Note (illustration) I, 494 
Baptismal Rites, I, 108 
Bar of Cleveland, I, 459 
Barber, Gershom M., I, 443 
Barber, Josiah, I, 69 
Bark, Jared, I, 31 
Bark, Justin, I, 105 
Barnes, Philo, I, 31 
Barnett, Edgar G., Ill, 108 
Barnett, James, I, 342, 367; III, 158 
Barnum, A. S., I, 33 
Barnum, Luther, I, 161 
Barr, Harry C., II, 235 
Barricelli, Giovanni A., II, 257 
Bartlett, F. J., I, 166 
Bartunek, Joseph W., II, 212 
^artunek, Otto J., II, 214 
Baseball Club, The Cleveland, I, 532 
Bassett, Nathan, I, 143 
Bates, Elmer, I, 487 
Battle of Lake Erie, I, 318, 373 
Battles Family, I, 245 
Baum, George J., Ill, 286 
Bay Village, I, 141, 147; officers of, 
147 

Beachwood Village, I, 269; village 
of, 273 

Bear hunts, last, I, 117 
Becker, William H., Ill, 46 
Becker, William J., Ill, 285 
Beckwith, Charles G., II, 177 
Beckwith, Charles T., I, 457 
Bedford Chairs, I, 40 
Bedford Glens, I, 29 
Bedford Herald, I, 41 
Bedford Music Club, I, 38 
Bedford News Register, I, 41 
Bedford Public Square, (illustration) 
I, 213 

Bedford Township, I, 29; officers, 45 
Bedford, Village, I, 34; High School, 
36; officers, 42; bank, 42; historical 
incidents, 42 
Bell, Ward C, III, 261 
Bell, Oscar C., Ill, 19 
Belt Line Railroad, I, 515 
Ben, runaway slave, I, 310 
Bench and bar, I, 434 
Bender, George H., I, 67 
Benedict, Daniel, I, 31, 33 
Benevolent institutions, I, 531; so¬ 
cieties, 531 

Benham, C. E., I, 521 
Benham, Charles E., Ill, 247 
Benner, Hanna E. K., II, 237 
Benner, Wallace J., II, 236 


Bennett, George A., I, 245 
Benson, Lester J., II, 237 
Bentley, Adamson, I, 224 
Bentleyville, I, 230, 232 
Berea, I, 121; quarries of, 124; “Grind¬ 
stone City,” 124; name of, 125, 129; 
officials, 131; schools, 131; business 
center of, 136; railroads, 136; news¬ 
papers, 136; physicians, 137 
Berea College, I, 132 
Berea Lyceum, I, 128 
Berea Seminary, I, 126 
Berea Stone Company, I, 129 
Bernsteen, A. E., I, 453 
Bernsteen, Abraham E., II, 81 
Berr, Alfred H., II, 190 
Best Foundry Company, I, 41 
Bethel Mission, I, 362 
Bibliography, I, 555 
Bicycle parade, I, 373 
Biddinger, Aretus E., Ill, 109 
Big Consolidated, I, 518 
Biggar, H. F. Jr., I, 470 
Bingham, Flavel W., I, 345 
Binz, Philip, II, 192 
Birth, the first in Warrensville Town¬ 
ship, I, 261 

Bishop, Abraham, I, 251 
Bishop, Jesse P., I, 438 
Bishop’s Mill, I, 251 
-vBistricky, Joseph L., Ill, 61 
Black, Louis, III, 225 
Blacksmith, first, I, 30 
Blacksmith shop, I, 27 
Blacksnake, Seneca chief, I, 16 
Blandin, E. J., I, 459 
Blaser, Benjamin F., Ill, 89 
Blast furnace, I, 125; Dover Town¬ 
ship, 152 

Bliss, Pelatiah, I, 80 
Blood, Asa, tavern, I, 143 
Blossom, Dudley S., II, 20 
Board of education, the first, I, 412 
422 

Board of Trade, Bedford, I, 40, 360 
Bolton, Alfred D., Ill, 68 
Bolton, Chester C., II, 17 
Bolton, Sarah K., I, 484; II, 292 
Bolton, Thomas, I, 436, 443 
Book of Mormon, I, 12 
Boulevards, I, 537 
Bourke, John T., Ill, 275 
Bourne, Ebenezer H., Ill, 156 
Bourne, E. L., I, 54 
Bourne, Lemuel, I, 52 
Bowen, Luke, I, 116 
Bower, Arthur E., Ill, 94 
Boyd, William H., I, 459; III, 39 
Boyle, W. C., I, 446 
Boynton, Albert, I, 135 
Boynton, Amos, 1, 198, 209 
Boynton, W. W., I, 448 
Bradburn, Charles, I, 413 
Bradley, Alva, II, 312 
Bradley, Charles L., II, 314 
Bradley, Dan F., Ill, 277 
Bradley, Morris A., II, 313 
Brainard, Asa, I, 65 
Brainard, John, I, 229 
Brainard family, I, 65 


INDEX 


xi 


Bramley, Matthew F., Ill, 96 
Bramley stone house, I, 97 
Bratenahl, I, 296 
Breck, Edward, I, 48 
Breck, John, I, 47 
Breck, John Adams, I, 48 
Breck, Joseph H., I, 49, 281 
Breck, Theodore, I, 48, 54, 62 
Breck, Theodore B., II, 160 
Brecksville Association, I, 62 
Brecksville Township, I, 15, 47; first 
settlers of, 49; first wedding in, 49; 
industries, 54; first doctor, 54; first 
frame house, 54; soldiers in Civil 
War, 56; schools, 56; churches, 57; 
fairs, 58; lodges, 58; officials, 59; 
centennial of first settlement of, 62 
Brecksville village, I, 59 
Brett, William H., I, 418, 423; (illus¬ 
tration) 424 

Brick, manufacture of, I, 89 
“Bridge war,” I, 71 
Bridges, I, 19; first over Rocky River, 
174, 208, 354 
Briggs, James A., I, 445 
Brighton, I, 72 
Brinsmade, A. T., I, 440 
Brook Park Village, I, 131 
Brooklyn Heights Village, I, 76 
Brooklyn Township, I, 63; first per¬ 
manent white settler, 63; first white 
child born in, 64; first frame dwell¬ 
ing in, 65; first school teacher, 67; 
first sawmill, 67; first wagon shop, 
68; first store, 68; township or¬ 
ganized, 68; officers, 68; trustees of, 
76; first religious services in, 77; 
churches, 77; lodges, 78 
Brooklyn Village, first election, I, 73; 
newspapers, 74; annexed to Cleve¬ 
land, 75, 324, 355 
Brooks School, I, 431 
Broom Factory, Olmsted Township, 
I, 163 

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi¬ 
neers, I, 530; III, 294 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engi¬ 
neers’ Cooperative National Bank, 
I, 501 

Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen, 
I, 530 

Brough, John, I, 344 

Brower, David, I, 275 

Brower, Elisha, I, 90 

Brown, Benoni, I, 31 

Brown, Benoni, I, 52 

Brown, Carl H., Ill, 192 

Brown, Fayette, III, 142 

Brown, Jim, famous outlaw, I, 89 

Brown, William R., II, 293 

Browne, Charles F., I, 481 

Brudno, Ezra, I, 487 

Brunner, Bernice N., II, 255 

Brunner, Ford W., II, 255 

Brush, Charles F., I, 504; III, 147 

Brush Electric Company, I, 505 

Bryant, David, I, 306 

Bucher, Walter M., Ill, 197 

Building stone industry, I, 129 

Bulkley, Charles H., I, 535 


Bull, Samuel, I, 212 
Bull family, I, 212 
Bullard, John S., I, 236 
Bunker, Jonathan, I, 102, 103 
Bunnell, Daniel, I, 157 
Bunts, F. E., I, 468 
Burk, Barzilla, I, 31, 33 
Burke, Ella M., II, 15 
Burke, Joseph, I, 248 
Burke, Stevenson, I, 441; II, 13 
Burnett, Serenus, I, 197, 223 
Burns, A. M., I, 235 
Burns, Thomas A., II, 269 
Burton, Theodore E., I, 448, 459, 487, 
532, 539; II, 3 
Bus Lines, I, 519 
Bushnell, William, I, 8 
Business, Cleveland, I, 515 
Business blocks, I, 538 
Business schools, I, 432 
Butternut Ridge, I, 162, 164 

i if 

Cabinet organs, I, 92 

Cahoon, Joseph, I, 140 

Cahoon Pioneer Association, I, 140 

Caldwell, Darius, I, 443 

Caldwell, Perry D., II, 142 

Caley, Fred H., II, 224 

Camp, George H., Ill, 258 

Campaign of 1840, I, 337 

Canfield, Gilbert B., II, 104 

Cannell, Eli W., II, 87 

Cannon, Carl J., II, 251 

Carabelli, Joseph, III, 153 

Carlin, Thomas J., Ill, 290 

Carpenter, Frank G., II, 124 

Carpenter, Otto W.. Ill, 207 

Carpenter, Samuel A., I, 119 

Carrington, Julius M., II, 96 

Carter, x\lonzo, I, 247 

Carter, Henry A., I, 100 

Carter, Lewis, I, 100 

Carter, Lorenzo, (illustration) I, 100; 

304, 307, 313 
Case, James, I, 144 

Case, Leonard, (illustration) I, 319; 

337, 425, 434 
Case Library, I. 425 
Case School, (illustration) I, 429 
Case School of Applied Science, I, 425, 
428 

Castle, William B., I, 70, 361 
Catholic churches, I, 393 
Catholic schools, I, 430 
Caunter, John R., Ill, 45 
Celebration of Perry’s victory, I, 339 
Celebration turned to mourning, (il¬ 
lustration) I, 372 

Centennial Arch, (illustration) I, 330 
Centennial celebration, I, 368 
Centennial commission, I, 367 
Centennial county, celebration of, I, 
371 

Centennial of first settlement of 
Brecksville, I, 62 

Central Armory, (illustration) I, 545 
Central Market, I, 364 
Central National Bank, Savings and 
Trust Company, I, 501 


Xll 


INDEX 


Central viaduct, I, 365 
Central School Building, Strongsville, 
(illustration) I, 118 
Chadwick, Cassie, trial of, I, 453 
Chadwick, Leroy S., I, 454 
Chagrin Falls, I, 223; early settlers, 
223; panic of 1837, 225; first store, 
225; first physician, 225; first church, 
225; churches, 226; schools, 226; first 
teacher, 226; first marriage, 228; first 
paper mill, 229; newspapers, 229; 
railroads, 230; township officers, 230; 
schools, 231; water power, 231; Civil 
war soldiers, 232; paper mills, 232; 
churches, 233; fraternal orders, 234; 
township officers, 234 
Chagrin Falls Paper Company, I, 232 
Chagrin Falls Township, I, 223 
Chagrin River, I, 4, 223 
Chair industry, I, 40 
Chandler, George H., Ill, 106 
Chandler, George N., Ill, 107 
Chandler, Karl H., Ill, 116 
Channels, original glacial, (map) I, 5 
Chapman, Burton B., II, 82 
Chapman, Henry M., I, 340 
Chard, Mary H., II, 40 
Chard, William P., II, 39 
Charity Hospital, I, 469 
Charity Hospital Medical College, I, 
463 

Chase, W. Wayne, II, 90 
Chestnutt, Charles W., I, 487 
Childs, Lyman W., II, 152 
Chillicothe, I, 22 

Chippewa Creek, Brecksville, (illus¬ 
tration) I, 53 
Chisholm, Henry, I, 506 
Christian, George B., II, 76 
Church, Henry, I, 224 
Churches, I, 27; denominationalism, 
38; revivals, 38; early, 38; Brecks¬ 
ville Township, 57; Brooklyn Town¬ 
ship, 77; Parma Township, 84; In¬ 
dependence Township, 95; Royalton 
Township, 106; Strongsville Town¬ 
ship, 114, 118; Middleburg Township, 
137; Dover Township, 149; Olmsted 
Township, 162, 163; first lady 
preacher, 164; Rockport Township, 
177; Lakewood Township, 193; 
Orange Township, 206; Solon 
Township, 215, 219; first in Chagrin 
Township, 225, 233; Euclid Town¬ 
ship, 256, 286, 290, 318; in Cleve¬ 
land, 323; Churches and missions 
of Cleveland, 380 

Ciemnoczolowski, Stanislaus J., II, 201 
Cieslak, Kazimier G., Ill, 153 
Circuit Court judges, I, 451 
Circuit riders, I, 386 
Cities Real Estate and Securities Com¬ 
pany, II, 167 

Citizens Savings & Trust Company, 
I 495 

City Beautiful, I, 534 

City Club, I, 532 

City Hall, (illustration) I, 362 

City hospital, I, 378 

City Hospital Building, I, 469 


City infirmary, I, 361 
City manager plan, I, 379 
City Manager plan in East Cleveland, 
I, 294 

“City of Homes,” Lakewood, I, 194 
Civil War, Brecksville Township sol¬ 
diers in, I, 56 

Civil War, soldiers from Strongsville 
Township, I, 119; record of Dover 
Township in, 152; soldiers from 
Olmsted, 166; soldiers from Orange 
Township, 206; soldiers from Solon 
Township, 219; soldiers from Cha¬ 
grin Falls, 232; soldiers from May- 
field Township, 242; Civil War, 254, 
288, 340, 364 

Clapp, Nettie M„ I, 352; II, 309 
Clark, Arthur H., Ill, 314 
Clark, Doctor, I, 6 
Clark, Nancy, I, 464 
Clarke, John H., I, 452 
Clay, Henry, I, 339 

Cleaveland, Moses, I, frontispiece; 19, 
21, 26, 246, 298; name of, 299 
Cleaveland (Moses) birthplace, (illus¬ 
tration) I, 51 

Cleaveland’s (Moses) Commission, I, 
46 

Clements, William L., II, 101 
Clerks, county, I, 346 
Cleveland, 1801, (map) I, 20; first 
manufacturing plant in, 306; first 
school in, 307; first well in, 309; Vil¬ 
lage of, 313; first dance in, 315; 
first physician, 315; ship building in, 
316; first courthouse in, 318; schools 
in, 318; churches in, 318; in 1816, 
319; industries in 1816, 320; canal 
and lake transportation, 336; first 
lawyer in, 333; soldiers in War of 
1812, 334; early history of, 355; 
City of, 355; port of, 360; street rail¬ 
way, 366; Federal plan of, 376; bar 
of, 459; Press, 482; Authors, 485; 
First Bank of, 490; Industries, 504; 
manufacturing, 504; first park in, 
514; Commercial, 515; harbor facili¬ 
ties, 515; Interurban Railways, 515; 
lake transportations, 515; railroads, 
515; shipping, 515; trade, 515; sub¬ 
ways, 516; street railways, 517; Bus 
Lines of, 519; lake traffic, 519; com¬ 
ing of steamboats in, 520; elec¬ 
tric lines of, 519; lake tragedies of, 
520; harbor facilities of, 520; air¬ 
plane factory, 521; gas companies 
of, 521; public utilities, 521; hotels 
in, 522; telegraph, 522; merchants, 
522; military companies in, 522; lum¬ 
ber trade of, 523; stores, 523; town 
meeting, 525; Masonic orders in, 
525; Institutions of, 525; clubs, 525; 
fraternal orders in, 525; benevolent 
institutions, 531; benevolent so¬ 
cieties, 531; Temperance societies, 
531; Athletics, 532; Golf clubs, 532; 
the city beautiful. 534; playhouses, 
534; public buildings, 534; boule¬ 
vards. 537; playgrounds, 537; busi¬ 
ness blocks, 538: public buildings. 


INDEX 


xiii 


538; hotels, 539; theatres, 539; Mov¬ 
ing picture theatres, 540; Amuse¬ 
ment Parks, 543; in World war, 544; 
war industries, 545; Red Cross Work, 
546; Red Cross drive, 548; Soldiers 
in World war, 549; Disloyalty cases, 
551; first death list in World war, 
552; airplane mail, 553 
Cleveland Academy, I, 323 
Cleveland Academy of Science, I, 186 
Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Rail¬ 
way, I, 43 

Cleveland Associated charities, I, 531 
Cleveland Bar Association, I, 363 
Cleveland Baseball Club, I, 532 
Cleveland centennial, I, 368 
Cleveland Clearing House Associa¬ 
tion, I, 499 

Cleveland’s churches and missions, I, 
380 

Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati 
Railroad, I, 128, 163, 337 
Cleveland Draft Act, I, 548 
Cleveland Female Seminary, I, 383, 431 
Cleveland’s First Schoolhouse, (illus¬ 
tration) I, 408 
Cleveland Forum, I, 425 
Cleveland Foundation, I, 498 
Cleveland Gazette, I, 474 
Cleveland Gazette and Commercial 
Register, (illustration) I, 475 
Cleveland Grays, I, 523 
Cleveland Harbor, I, 324 
Cleveland Heights, I, 269, 272; 

Heights High School, 272; Superin¬ 
tendent James W. McLane, 272; 
schools, 272 

Cleveland Herald, I, 474, 477 
Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital Col¬ 
lege, I, 470 

Cleveland, Hotel, I, 516 
Cleveland Humane Society, I, 363 
Cleveland Illuminating Company, I, 
512 

Cleveland in 1833, (illustration) I, 317 
Cleveland Law Library Association, I, 
425 

Cleveland Law School, I, 135, 425 
Cleveland Leader, I, 477, 478 
Cleveland Liberty Loan Drive, I, 547 
Cleveland Library, I, 360 
Cleveland Medical College, I, 427, 464 
Cleveland Museum of Art, I, 541; 

(illustration) I, 541 
Cleveland News, The, I, 480; II, 279 
Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula 
Railroad, I, 253, 288 
Cleveland Paper Company, I, 507 
Cleveland Park Board, I, 535 
Cleveland Plain Dealer, The, I, 359; II, 
261 

Cleveland Public Library, III, 266 
Cleveland public square, I, 534 
Cleveland Rolling Mills, I, 507 
Cleveland State Hospital, I, 282 
Cleveland Times, I, 483 
Cleveland Times & Commercial, The, 
II, 280 

Cleveland Tool and Supply Company, 
1, 509 


Cleveland Township, I, 22, 24, 298; or¬ 
ganized, 302; officers, 318, 324 
Cleveland Trust Company, I, 498 
Cleveland Union Club, I, 533 
Cleveland War Board, I, 545 
Cleveland Whig, I, 476 
Cleveland World, I, 480 
Cleveland & Chagrin Falls Railway 
Company, I, 235 

Cleveland & Mahoning Railroad, I, 231 
Cleveland & Pittsburg Railway, I, 34 
Climate, I, 3 
Cline, John A., I, 460 
Clinic Building, I, 468 
Clinics, Medical, I, 461 
Clothing manufacturers, I, 512 
Clubs, I, 525 
Clum, Alfred, II, 16 
Coal, first use of, I, 358 
Coates, John, I, 19, 101 
Coates, Thomas, I, 108 
Coates, William R., I, 74, 347, 532; III, 
320 

Cobb, Barney, I, 31 
Coffinberry, John B., Ill, 43 
Coffinbury, James M., I, 443, 449 
Coit, Daniel S., I, 298 
Coleman, William, I, 248 
Collamer, I, 252, 286; officials, 292 
Colleges, first in Cuyahoga County, I, 
131; for women, 427; medical, 461 
Collinwood, Village of, I, 255, 289 
Collister, Clucus W., I, 458 
Collister, Lawrence G., II, 19 
Colson, Bolter, I, 53 
Columbus Street Bridge, (illustration) 
I, 308 

Coming of steamboats, I, 520 
Commercial Bank Check, (illustra¬ 
tion) I, 494 

Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, I, 320 
Commercial Cleveland, I, 515 
Common Pleas judges, Strongsville 
Township, I, 119; Rockport Town¬ 
ship, 169; 442; Court, 458 
Community Chest, I, 531 
Comstock, George, I, 89 
Comstock, Peter, I, 31, 33 
Comstock, Sarah, I, 30 
Comstock, Stephen, I, 30, 33 
Concrete, I, 92 
Conger, James W., Ill, 160 
Connecticut Land Company, I, 9, 21, 
47, 299 

Connecticut Land Company Reserve, 
record of survey, I, 26 
Connecticut men, I, 355 
Connor, John B., II, 53 
Connor, Sarah A. H , II, 54 
Conrad, Mary F., II, 252 
Convention, National Republican, I, 
543 

Cook, Edmund V., I, 487 
Cook, Nathan E., II, 223 
Cooley, A. S., I, 145 
Cooley, Arthur S., Ill, 201 
Cooley, John M., I, 145 
Cooley family, I, 145 
Coolidge, Susan, I, 484; II, 292 
Cooper, Theodore A., II, 226 


XIV 


INDEX 


Cooperative National Bank of Cleve¬ 
land, III, 294 

Copper mines, prehistoric, I, 12 
Copper relics, I, 13 
Corlett, Robert J., II, 192 
Counterfeiting, I, 89 
Counties, development of, (map) I, 21 
Countryman, Conrad, I, 80 
County centennial celebration, I, 371 
County Coroners, I, 350 
Courts and judges, I, 344; juvenile, 350; 
of Insolvency, 350; and lawyers, 
434; Federal, 450; of appeals, 451; of 
Common Pleas, first, 444. 
Courthouse, first in Cleveland, I, 309 
Courthouse in 1885, (illustration) I, 
339 

Covert, James, I, 237 
Covert, John C., I, 480; II, 291 
Cowles, Edwin W., I, 461; (illustra¬ 
tion) 478; 480 

Cowles, John G. W., Ill, 151 
Cowles, Samuel, I, 434, 444 
Cox, John H., II, 44 
Cozad, Samuel, I, 294 
Cragin, Raymond T., II, 165 
Crawfbrd, Russell B., Ill, 80 
Crile, George W., I, 427, 468, 469, 472 
Crocker, Jedediah, I, 143 
Cross, Cleaveland R., II, 42 
Cross, D. W., I, 449 
Crouch, Walter C., II, 183 
Crouse, Guy V., II, 299 
Crowell, John, I, 449 
Crumb tavern, I, 93 
Cukr, Lada C., II, 183 
Curtiss, H. W., I, 234 
Cutler, Elliott, I, 469 
Cutler, Orlando, I, 320 
Cuyahoga County, I, 23; formed, 23, 
24; original townships of, 25; in 
1826, (map) 66 ; first city in, 69; first 
bridge across, 323; county govern¬ 
ment, 326; organization of, 331; 
county seat, 332; question, 336; sol¬ 
diers in Civil war, 340; officials, 344; 
clerks, 346; recorders, 347; treas¬ 
urers, 347; commissioners, 348; sur¬ 
veyors, 348; courthouse, 352 
Cuyahoga Heights, I, 279 
Cuyahoga Republican and Advertiser, 
I, 136 

Cuyahoga River, I, 4; transporta¬ 
tion, 17 

Cuyahoga River Scene, (illustration) 
I, 22 

Cuyahoga Furnace Company, I, 149 
Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company, 
I, 506 

Dairying, Orange Township, I, 206 
Damm, Adam J., II, 276 
Danforth, Mrs., I, 163 
Daniels, Roy A., II, 307 
Daniels. William R., II, 232 
Davis, Harry L., I, 375, 545; III, 232 
Davis, Howard H.. II. 135 
Davis, Nathaniel D., II, 263 
Davis, Roy M., II, 216 
Davis, Weldon M., II, 306 


Dawley, Jay P., I, 447 
Dawson, Archibald N., Ill, 136 
Dawson, William W., Ill, 58 
Day, Luther, I, 452 
Day, L. W., I, 418 
Day, William L., I, 452; II, 10 
Daykin, Albert G., Ill, 243 
Debating school, Olmsted Township, 
I, 162 

Debs, Eugene V., I, 552 
Debt, imprisonment for, I, 321 
Decker, Harry, II, 54 
Deibel, Harry L., II, 203 
Deitsch, Frederick W., II, 299 
Dempsey, James, I, 446 
Dempsey, John P., I, 459; III, 138 
Dennerle, John A., II, 243 
Denominationalism, I, 38 
Dentistry, I, 471 
Destitute children, I, 385 
Detroit Street, I, 168 
Dewstoe, Charles C., III, 148 
Dial, Emory L., II, 247 
Dickey, Lincoln G., Ill, 56 
Dickey, Moses R., I, 447 
Dickman, F. J., I, 447 
Difford, Claude L., II, 194 
Dille, Asa, farm of, I, 284 
Dille, A. L., I, 242 
Dille, David, I, 248 
Disloyalty Cases, I, 551 
Distilleries, I, 59 

Distillery, Strongsville Township, I, 
116 

Dittrick, Alva R., Ill, 303 
Dittrick, Francis W., Ill, 113 
Doan, John, I, 258 
Doan, Nathaniel, I, 246 
Doan, Timothy, I, 283, 302, 333 
Doan Family, I, 293 
Doan's Corners, I, 246, 283, 407 
Doan’s Corner Congregational Church, 
(illustration) I, 285 
Dodge, Henry H., I, 336, 351 
Dodge, Samuel, I, 258, 307, 309 
Dombrowski, John A.,.II, 256 
Dover Academy, I, 142, 151 
Dover blast furnace, I, 152 
Dover Center, I, 143; first settler at, 
144 

“Dover Ditch Wars,” I, 153 
Dover Fair Association, I, 151 
Dover, library, I, 145 
Dover Literary Society, I, 145 
Dover Township, I, 140; fruit growing, 
140; early settlers, 140; first physi¬ 
cian in, 143; taverns, 146; postoffices, 
146; township officials, 147; forest 
clearing, 148; grape growing, 148; 
potash, 148; industries, 148; churches, 
149; schools, 150; fraternal orders, 
151; blast furnace, 152; soldiers from, 
152; drainage, 153; wool market, 152; 
first white child born in township’, 
154; first wedding, 154; first frame 
house, 154 

Dover Village, I, 147; officers of, 147 
Draft Act, I, 548 

Drainage, Dover Township, I, 153 
Draper, Andrew S., I, 420 


INDEX 


xv 


Dresser, Ferdinand J. C., III, 244 
Drucker, Harvey, III, 182 
Dudley, Leonard, II, 250 
Dunham, David B., I, 34 
Dunham, Hezekiah, I, 34 
Dunham, John, I, 31, 33 
Dunham, Squire, I, 39 
Dunshee, William, I, 31 
Durbin, Harry E., II, 121 
Dwight, Holden, I, 126 
Dwyer, William E., Ill, 115 

Eagle House, I, 281 
Early airplane, I, 373 
Early German churches, I, 403 
Early settlers, I, 49; dangers to, 49 
Early Settlers’ Association, I, 362 
Early Settlers at the Log Cabin, (illus¬ 
tration) I, 222 
Early surveys, (map) I, 25 
East Cleveland City, I, 283, 294; City 
manager’s plan, 294; schools, 295; 
public libraries, 295, 362 
East Cleveland Township, I, 283; first 
resident, 283; churches, 283; first 
church, 283; officers, 288; railroads, 
288; schools, 290 

East Manual Training School, I, 4.19 
East Rockport, I, 186, 188 
East Side, I, 23 

East Technical High School, I, 422 
East View Village, I, 269 
Eastman, Linda A., I, 422; III, 266 
Eddy, Ezra, I, 244 
Eddy, Samuel, I, 442 
Education, board of, I, 412, 422 
Edwards, Richard F., I, 181 
Edward^, William A., II, 301 
Eells, Dan P., I, 492 
Eirick, W. F., I, 354; II, 149 
Elective judiciary, I, 442 
Electrical industry, I, 504; first lamp, 
504; Brush Company, 505; railway 
lines, 519 

Ellenberger, William J., Ill, 209 
Elliott, Harvey E., II, 91 
Elliott, Reuben, I, 85 
Ellsler, John A., I, 540 
Ellsworth, Oliver, I, 111 
Elson, William H., I, 421 
Elwell, John J., I, 445 
Ely, George H., Ill, 178 
Emerson, Asa, I, 81 
Emigration from Isle of Man, I, 264 
Emmons, Charles W., Ill, 82 
Emrich, J. M., II, 302 
Engineers, Locomotive, Brotherhood 
of, I, 530 

Engle, Robert, I, 101 

English and French rival claims, I, 329 

English Domain, I, 23 

Enos, George A., II, 185 

Enos, Jess R., II, 184 

Epizootic, I, 362 

Erie Indians, I, 15 

Erwin, John, I, 445 

Euclid Avenue, I, 288, 305, 534 

Euclid Avenue Opera House, I, 540 

Euclid Road, I, 305 


Euclid Township, I, 246; first settler, 
248; churches, 250, 256; township 
officers, 251, 258; first physician, 252; 
first postmaster, 252; first grist mill, 
252; industries, 253; railroads, 253; 
quarries, 254; war record, 254; grape 
culture, 254; schools, 257 
Euclid, Village, I, 252, 255 
Euclidville, I, 243 
Evarts, Charles O., I, 281 
Evening News, I, 480 
Everett, Henry, I, 518 
Excess Company, I, 299 
Explorations of La Salle, I, 327 

Fairchild, David, I, 126 
Fairs, Brecksville, I, 58 
Fairview Village, I, 177; officers of, 
180 

Fanning, Richard J., I, 344; III, 7 
Farley, John H., I, 368; II, 295 
Farmer, Lydia H., II, 292 
Farnsworth, George B., II, 136 
Farnsworth, Havilla, I, 252 
Farnsworth, Henry M., II, 50 
Farrelly, John P., I, 395 
Father of Ohio Canal, I, 321 
Faudel, H. J., I, 98 
Fay, Benjamin, I, 80 
Fay, Jesse B., Ill, 12 
Federal Courts, I, 450 
Federal Judges, I, 450 
Federal plan of city government, I, 
375; of Cleveland, 376 
Federal Reserve Bank, I, 499 
Federated churches, I, 405 
Ferguson, Harold K., II, 36 
Fessenden, Mary R., I, 277 
Filipiak, Boleslaw, II, 210 
Financial Cleveland, I, 489 
Fire Department, I, 35, 361 
“Fire Lands,” I, 23 
First bank in Cleveland, I, 320 
First board of education, I, 412 
First brick building in Cleveland, I, 311 
First bridge across the Cuyahoga, I, 
323 

First Business College, I, 432 
First Catholic Church, I, 393 
First phurch in city, I, 380 
First churches, I, 38 
First city to adopt city manager plan, 
I, 379 

First Cleveland Bank, I, 490 
First court, I, 333 

First courthouse in Cleveland, I, 309, 
318; (illustration) 327 
First dance in Cleveland, I, 315 
First death list of World war, I, 552 
First electric lamp, I, 504 
First fireproof building, I, 493 
First gas, I, 360 

First grist mill on Western Reserve, 
(illustration) I, 274, 275 
First institutional church, I, 401 
First labor bank, I, 501 
First locomotive, I, 506 
First manufacturing plant in Cleve¬ 
land, I, 306 
First mayor, I, 359 


XVI 


INDEX 


First Methodist in Cleveland, I, 384 
First National Bank, I, 495 
First park in Cleveland, I, 534 
First practicing lawyer in Cleveland, 
I, 333 

First Presbyterian Church, I, 387 
First Reformed Church, I, 404 
First resident of East Cleveland, I, 
283 

First school in Cleveland, I, 307 
First school teacher, I, 407 
First screw propeller, I, 521 
First settlement, centennial of, I, 62 
First settlers, I, 31; in Parma Town¬ 
ship, 81; in Warrensville Township, 
260; of Cleveland, 303 
First steamboat, I, 321, 323 
First street railway, I, 366 
First surgical unit to reach France, I, 
473 

First theater, I, 539 
First train to Cleveland, I, 338 
First use of coal, I, 358 
First wedding in Cleveland, I, 304 
First well in Cleveland, I, 309 
First woman admitted to the bar, I, 
460 

First woman in general assembly, I, 
352 

First woman resident of Cleveland, I, 
303 

First woman in state senate, I, 352 
First women physicians, I, 464 
Fischer, John G., Ill, 227 
Fish, Charles L., I, 440 
Fish, Ebenezer, I, 64 
Fish, Isaiah W., I, 64 
Fish, James, I, 63 
Fish, Moses, I,. 64 
Fisher, Lloyd, I, 90 
Fisher, Manning F., II, 55 
Fitch, Andrew G., I, 30 
Fitch, Benjamin, I, 29, 40; first chair- 
maker, 261 

Fitch, Jabez W., I, 344 
Fitch family, I, 161 

FitzGerald, William S., I, 376, 377; II, 
28 

Fitzwater, Tom, fiddler, I, 60 
Flagler, Henry M., I, 507 
Flat boats, I, 17 
Fletcher, Nathan P., I, 94 
Flickinger, George C., I, 42 
Fliedner, Giordano B., II, 156 
Foot, Catherine, I, 142 
Foote, Horace, I, 435, 443 
Foote, John A., I, 435 
Foran, Martin A., I, 447 
Forbes, Edwin C., III, 212 
Ford, H. Clark, III, 171 
Ford, Simpson S., II, 95 
Ford family, I, 294 
Ford and ferry, I, 19 
Forest City House, (illustration) I, 517 
Forest clearing, Dover Township, I, 
148 

Formation of republican party, I, 479 
Fort Ancient, I, 12 
Fort Huntington, I, 318 
Foster, Arthur B., II, 153 


Foster, Hanna, I, 137 
Foster, Henry E., I, 119 
Foster, Leonard G., I, 78; II, 119 
Foster, William H., II, 94 
Foundries, I, 508 

Fourth of July, 1875, (illustration) I, 
365 

Fowls, Abram, I, 125 
France, Lester E., II, 107 
Franklin Oil and Gas Company, I, 41 
Fraser, Mary S., I, 460 
Fraternal orders, Bedford, I, 39; Inde¬ 
pendence Township, 98; Middleburg 
Township, 138; Dover Township, 
151; Lakewood, 193; Chagrin Falls, 
234; Cleveland, 525 
Frederick, J. M. H., I, 421 
Free kindergartens, I, 420 
Free negroes, I, 67 
Freeman, Mrs. John, I, 36 
Freeman, Samuel, I, 82 
Freese, Andrew, (illustration) I, 409, 
411 

French, John, I, 187 
French Domain, I, 23 
French family, I, 182, 187 
French and English rival claims, I, 
329 

French and Indian war, I, 330 
French land title, I, 19 
French missionaries, I, 15 
French regime, I, 327 
French treaty, I, 19 
Frey, Arthur J., II, 260 
Friend, John M., II, 280 
Fruit growing, Dover Township, I, 
140; Lakewood, 181 
Fry, Richard, I, 188 
Fugitive slave, I, 399 
Futch, William E., Ill, 238 

Gahn, Harry C., II, 83 
Galena, I, 13 

Gallagher, Farrell T., Ill, 79 
Galleher, Marie G., I, 460 
Gardner, Charles H., Ill, 140 
Gardner, Hattie E., Ill, 142 
Gardner, J. Stanley S., II, 228 
Gardner, P. B., I, 136 
Gardner, Silas, I, 123 
Gardner, Valentine, I, 127 
Garfield, Abram, I, 91, 195, 282, 428 
Garfield, James A., I, 28, 107, 195; 
birthplace, (illustration) 197; early 
life, 199; second home, (illustration) 
200 

Garfield, James R., I, 459 

Garfield Heights, I, 279, 280 

Garfield Memorial, (illustration) I, 210 

Garfield Park, I, 282 

Garretson, George A., Ill, 175 

Garrett, Frank B., Ill, 71 

Gas, the first, I, 360 

Gas companies, I, 521 

Gas well, first, I, 183 

Gas well boom, Lakewood, I, 194 

Gates family, I, 245 

Gates’ Mills, I, 240, 242; Village, 243 

Geauga County, I, 23 

Geer, Calvin, I, 155 


INDEX 


XVII 


Gehring, J. G., I, 468 
Geisendorfer, John, I, 92 
General Hospital, Bedford, I, 42 
General store, first in Bedford Town¬ 
ship, I, 35 
Geologists, I, 6 
Geology, I, 3 

Gericke, Alfred J., II, 283 
German churches, early, I, 403 
German newspaper, I, 483 
German Reformed Protestant Church, 
Parma Township, I, 85 
German Wallace College, I, 129, 132 
Giant trees, I, 47 
Gilbert, A., I, 333 
Gildard, Harry S., Ill, 50 
Giles, Sidney W., I, 296 
Gilson, Frances M., II, 133 
Gilson, George W., II, 132 
Glacial channel, (map) I, 5 
Glacial man, I, 16 
Glaciers, I, 4 
Glauber, Isaac C., II, 118 
Gleason, I. L., I, 95 
Gleason, Wm. J., I, 342 
Gleeson, Moses, I, 31 
Glen Valley Club, I, 15, 47 
Glenville Village, I, 289 
Glenwillow Village, I, 220; schools, 
221 ” 

Glidden Varnish Company, I, 509 
Globe factory, I, 128 
Goff, Frederick H., I, 489, 498; III, 
144 

Goldenbogen, John F., Ill, 194 
Golf clubs, I, 532 
Goodman, Max P., II, 69 
Gordon, Ira B., II, 249 
Gordon, James O., II, 217 
Gordon Park, I, 340, 366 
Goss, Clark, I, 125 
Goss, David, I, 125 
Goudy, Arthur J., I, 98 
Goudy, William, I, 98 
Gould, Charles J., Ill, 318 
Gould, Daniel, I, 31 
Gould, D. T., I. 4 
Goulder, Harvey D., Ill, 165 
Graber, C. Lee, III, 49 
Grade crossings, I, 39 
Grand Army of Republic, I, 530 
Granger, Boaz, I, 102 
Granger City, I, 169, 171 
Granger Hill, I, 63 
Grant House, I, 184 
Grape growing, Dover Township, I, 
148; culture, Lakewood, 181, 254 
Grasselli, Caesar A., Ill, 236 
Grasselli Chemical Company, I, 508 
Grave Creek Mound, I, 9, 10 
Graves, Noah, I, 224 
Graves, William C., Ill, 299 
Gray, J. W., I, 350, 474, 481 
Graydon, Pierre, II, 229 
Great Hinckley Hunt, I, 51 
Great Sleighride, I, 54 
Green, Anna, I, 50 
Green, Arnold, I, 344, 442 
Green, Virginia D., I, 421; III, 161 
Green, William, I, 90 


Greenwood, Ivan A., Ill, 123 
Greenwood, Walter P., Ill, 124 
Greenwood and Greenwood, III, 123 
Greif, William, II, 270 
Gresmuck, Mary, II, 126 
Greve, George F., Ill, 73 
Griffin, Charlotte S., II, 104 
Griffin, Chauncey N., II, 103 
Griffith, James, I, 225 
Griffithsburg, I, 225, 232 
“Grindstone City,” I, 124 N 
Grindstones, I, 126; turning^of, 130 
Grist mill, I, 27; first, 31; 252; first 
west of Cuyahoga River, 140; grist 
mill and sawmill, west branch of 
Rocky River, 160 
Griswold, Glenn E., II, 168 
Griswold, Seneca O., I, 448 
Griswold, Stanley, I, 324, 333, 344 
Grossman, Abraham B., Ill, 187 
Grossman, L. J., I, 459 
Grossman, Mary B., I, 460 
Grover, Delo C., I, 135 
Guardian Savings and Trust Company, 
I, 500 

Hackman, Herman H., II, 26 
Hadden, Alexander, I, 345, 346, 427; 
III, 151 

Hadlow, H. Ralph, III, 257 
Haeflinger, Henry A., II, 248 
Haffner, August, III, 188 
Hahn, Charles C., II, 284 
Halcyon Church, I, 290 
Hale, John C., I, 440 
Hall, Moses, I, 143 
Hall, Reuben, I, 146 
Hamilton, Edwin T., I, 276, 280, 442 
Hammond, Ardon P., II, 52 
Handerson, S. S., I, 224 
Handy, T. P., I, 489; (illustration) 490 
Hanna, Carl H., II, 318 
Hanna, Dan R., I, 480 
Hanna, Leonard C, III, 226 
Hanna, M. A., I, 366, 518, 523 
Hanna, M. A. and Company, I, 523 
Hanna, Marcus A. monument to, 
(illustration) I, 537 
Hanna, Marcus A., II, 316 
Hanna, William S., II, 162 
Hannum, Julius, I, 60 
Hanning, Maurice F., Ill, 183 
Harbertson, John, I, 168 
Harbor facilities, I, 334, 515, 520 
Harbor improvements, I, 355 
Harding, Charles R., I, 165 
Hardy, J. H., I, 440 
Hare, Alden B., Ill, 215 
Harms, Lewis, I, 254, 258 
Harper, James W., I, 220 
Harris, George B., I, 460 
Harrison, William Henry, campaign, 
I, 84 

Haserot, Francis H., II, 174 
Hasse, Paul F., Ill, 69 
Hastings, Kent K., II, 225 
Hathaway-Brown School, I, 432 
Flathaway. Zephaniah, I, 90 
Hawkins, Richard, R., II, 219 
Hawley, Albert H., Ill, 130 


INDEX 


Hawley, David R., II, 127 
Hawley, Davis, II, 150 
Hawley, Ezekiel, I, 304 
Hay, John, I, 484 
Haynes, Ahijah, Sr., I, 112 
Haynes, Nathaniel, I, 31 
Hecker, Ralph, III, 293 
Hedley, James, I, 78 
Heege, Gus, I, 61 
Heene, George W., II, 66 
Heene, John E„ II, 272 
Heights High School, I, 272 
Henderson, J. M., I, 440 
Henke, Henry A., Ill, 273 
Herkner, Henry A., Ill, 291 
Herrick, Henry J., I, 463 
Herrick, J. F., I, 448 
Herrick, Myron T., I, 489, 493, 546; 
III, 142 

Hertzer, Doctor, I, 6 
Hickox, Abraham, (illustration) I, 
122; 312 

Hickox, Jared, I, 121 
Highland Heights, I, 243 
High Level Bridge, (illustration) I, 
28; 353 

High school, I, 411, 418 
Higley, Moses, I, 31 
Hildie, Lundus A., Ill, 264 
Hill, Louis E., II, 244 
Hilliard, Mrs. John, I, 112 
Hilliard, Richard, I, 337 
Hinckley, Isaac, I, 65 
Hinman, M. S., I, 11 
Hinsdale, B. A., I, 417 
Hirstius, August J., II, 275 
Historical society building of today, I, 
335 

Hoadley, Lemuel, I, 53 
Hoadley, Samuel, I, 158 
Hoag, John, II, 45 
Hobart, William L., Ill, 52 
Hodge, O. J., I, 338, 340 
Hoffman, Arthur E., Ill, 89 
Hogen, F. G., I, 421 
Hogsett, J. H„ I, 459 
Holan, James L., Ill, 284 
Holbrook, Alfred, I, 128 
Holbrook, Josiah, I, 128 
Holden, Liberty E., I, 481 
Holley, John M., I, 26 
Home rule charter, I, 375 
Homeopathic college, I, 360, 470; Hos¬ 
pital college, 470 
Hopkins, William R., I, 379, 515 
Hopwood, Avery, I, 485 
Horstman, Ignatius, I, 395 
Horticulturist, famous, I, 181 
Hospital day, I, 473 
Hospitals, Bedford, I, 42; Lakewood, 
194; Cleveland, 461; leading, 466 
Hotel Cleveland, I, 516 
Hotels, I, 281, 522, 523, 539 
Houle, C. J., Ill, 104 
House warming party, I, 261 
Houston, Sam., I, 338 
Howe, Charles S., I, 428; III, 148 
Howland, Joseph, I, 298 
Howland, Paul, I, 459; III, 26 
Hoyt, James H., Ill, 144 


Hoyt, James M., I, 436 
Hubbard, George A., I, 119 
Hubbard, R. Schuyler, II, 169 
Hubbell, C. D., I, 37 
Hubbell, Charles H., I, 262 
Hudson, Henry, I, 103, 106 
Hughes, William, III, 190 
Hulet, Fletcher, I, 132 
Humane society of Cleveland, I, 344, 
363, 434 

Hunt, Great Hinckley, for wolves, I, 
51 

Hunt, Nathan, I, 71 
Hunt, William H., I, 371 
Huntington, Fort, I, 318 
Huntington, John, I, 541; II, 273 
Huntington, Samuel, I, 302, 307, 332, 

344 434 

Hurd’ Seth T., I, 436 
Hurley, Edward T., Ill, 111 
Hutchins, John C., I, 459; III, 59 
Hydraulic Pressed Brick Company, I, 
92 

Hyre, Sarah E., I, 421; III, 272 

Idlewood Village, I, 269 
Illuminating Company, the Cleveland, 
I, 512 

Imprisonment for debt, I, 321 
Independence Stone, I, 91 
Independence Township, I, 7, 8, 19, 89; 
first settler of, 89; quarries, 89; first 
officers, 91; water power mills, 92; 
township officers, 93; first postoffice, 
94; schools, 95; physicians, 95; 
churches, 95; politics, 96; landmark 
in, 97; soldiers from, 97; temperance 
sentiment in, 97; roads, 97; fraternal 
organizations, 98 
Independence Village, I, 97 
Indian Country, I, 23 
Indian-mounds, I, 9; (illustration) 57 
Indian war, I, 331 

Indians, I, 16, 50, 112, 309, 326, 329; 
Rockport Township, 173; war of 
French and, 330 

Industries, I, 40; first sawmill in 
Brooklyn Township, 67; Middleburg 
Township, 128; Dover Township, 
153; Rockport Township, 172; 253; 
ship building, 253; stone cutting mill, 
253; in Cuyahoga County, 294; 
Cleveland in 1816, 320; electrical, 
504 

Ingersoll, Albert C., Ill, 102 
Ingersoll, Francis S., Ill, 51 
Ingersoll, George L., Ill, 102 
Ingersoll. J. E., I, 440, 445 
Ingersoll, Laban, I, 31, 33 
Ingham, Mrs. W. A., I, 137 
Institutions, I, 525 
Interurban railways, I, 515 
Intoxicating liquors, manufacture and 
sale of, I, 127 
Tron furnace, I, 149 
Iron ore beds, I, 148 
Iron ore market, I, 504 
Iron works, I, 360 

Isle of Man, emigration from, I, 264 


INDEX 


xix 


Jackman, George H., Ill, 62 
Jackson family, I, 208 
Jacox, Eleanor, I, 99 
Jaksic, Francis M., Ill, 204 
Jefferson County, I, 23 
Jenkins, Charles E., Ill, 35 
Jenkins, Mary K., Ill, 36 
Jerome, A. A., I, 245 
Jewish churches, I, 404 
Jilek, Charles A., Ill, 166 
Johann Grasselli Home, I, 430 
Johnson, George B., Ill, 292 
Johnson, Homer H., II, 141 
Johnson, John, I, 31 
Johnson, Leverett, I, 142 
Johnson, Levi, (illustration) I, 311, 316 
Johnson, Lewis, I, 89 
Johnson, Tom L., I, 369; monument 
to, (illustration) 535; III, 226 
Johnston, Edward, I, 52 
Jones, Albert L., II, 233 
Jones, Benjamin, I, 284 
Jones, Carlos, I, 79 
Jones, Frank G., II, 159 
Jones, James M., I, 443 
Jones, John D., II, 199 
Jones, L. H., I, 420 
Jones, Nathaniel M., II, 128 
Jones, R. G., I, 421 

Jones Home for Friendless Children, 
I, 79 

Joseph, Emil, II, 38 
Judd, Daniel S., I, 237 
Judges and courts, I, 344; of Common 
Pleas, 344, 434; Federal, 450 
Juvenile Court, I, 350 

Kauffman, Amos I., II, 205 
Kaufmann, William, I, 483 
Keckler, John W., Ill, 278 
Keeler, Harriet L., I, 415, 421; Memo¬ 
rial Woods of, 538; II, 291 
Keith, Russell M., II, 181 
Kelker, Henry C., II, 241 
Kelley, Alfred, (illustration) I, 314; 

321, 333, 434 
Kelley, Daniel, I, 320 
Kelley, Horace, I, 541; III, 230 
Kelley, Moses, (illustration) I, 349; 
436 

Kelley, Samuel W., Ill, 275 
Kellum, Monford R., II, 186 
Kelly, Datus, I, 170 
Kendall, O. W., I, 165 
Kennedy, Charles E., I, 487 
Kennel, Archibald J., Ill, 246 
Kern, Frank J., Ill, 186 
Kerruish, William S., I, 263, 446 
Kilpatrick, Uriel, I, 162 
Kindergarten, free, I, 420 
King, Hubert C., II, 230 
King, Ralph, I, 172 
King, William, I, 89 
King, Zenas, III, 75 
Kingsbury, Ezekiel, I, 304 
Kingsbury, James, I, 304, 320; (illus¬ 
tration) 333 
Kingsbury, John, I, 94 
Kingston Township, I, 157 
Kintzler, Lew C., Ill, 57 


Kirby, Ephraim, I, 299 
Kirtland, 1, 227 

Kirtland, Jared P., I, 181; (illustra¬ 
tion) 185; 462 
Kirtland homestead, I, 186 
Kitchen, Henry W., Ill, 159 
Klefman, Henry E., II, 245 
Kleinman, Samuel H., Ill, 231 
Kline, t Virgil P., I, 447; II, 291 
Klingman, Fred F., II, 50 
Klonowski, Stanley, II, 215 
Klooz, George, II, 196 
Kmieck, Peter J., Ill, 94 
Knight, Thomas A., II, 110 
Knight, Tom, I, 488 
Knight, T. Spencer, II, 75 
Knights of Pythias, I, 528 
Kniola, Michael P, II, 207 
Knowlton, Fannie S., I, 62 
Knowlton, L. G., I, 137 
Knowlton, William A., I, 54, 62, 467; 
III, 184 

Kobrak, Herbert, III, 272 
—"■Kohler, Fred, I, 377 
Koplin, Grant E., II, 191 
Krather, Henry, II, 143 
Kreft, Joseph E., Ill, 312 
Kremzar, Joseph, III, 205 
Kroehle, Albert, II, 281 
Kroehle, Charles, III, 85 
Kroehle, Oscar, III, 87 
Kroehle, Paul E., Ill, 86 
Krueger, Everette H., II, 49 
Kuhlman, Anna S., Ill, 158 
Kuhlman, William E., Ill, 157 
Kundtz, Theodor, III, 236 
Kuta, Frank J., II, 125 

Ladies’ Aid Society, I, 342 
Lake Abram, I, 130 
Lake Erie, battle of, I, 318, 373 
Lake front improvement, I, 376 
Lake ridges, I, 6 
Lake steamboats, I, 338 
Lake traffic, 1, 519 
Lake tragedies, I, 520 
Lake transportation, I, 515 
Lake View Cemetery, (illustration) I, 
542 

Lake View & Collamer Railroad, I, 
289 

Lakeside Hospital, I, 465; dispensary, 
466; unit, 469, 472 

Lakewood, I, 168, 177; fruit growing, 
181; first gas well, 183; first rapid 
transit, 183; hamlet organized, 189; 
officers of, 189; city government, 
191; schools, 192; churches, 193; 
banks, 193; fraternal orders, 193; an¬ 
nexation sentiment, 194 
Lakewood Chamber of Commerce, I, 
193 

Lakewood High School, I, 192 
Lakewood Hospital, I, 194 
Lamb, Judson P., II, 130 
Lamson, Harry B., II, 144 
Lamson, Isaac P., Ill, 155 
Land grants, (map) I, 25 
Land titles, I, 9 
Lander, Frank R., I, 208 


XX 


INDEX 


Lander, M. A., I, 208 
Lander family, I, 208 
Landmark of Independence Township, 
I, 97 

Lang, George C., III, 112 
Large families, I, 53 
Larwill, Joseph, I, 172 
La Salle, explorations of, I, 327 
Latimer, John W., Ill, 242 
Law, Joseph, I, 163 

Law Library Association of Cleve¬ 
land, I, 425 

Law school of Cleveland, I, 425 
Lawyers, first in Middleburg town¬ 
ship, I, 127, 434 
Lay, John, I, 163 
Leader News Building, I, 480 
Leahy, John W., II, 56 
Lee, Ann, I, 264 
Lee, William G., Ill, 14 
Lee, W. G., I, 530 
“Ledge, The,” I, 214 
Leggett, Mortimer B., II, 290 
Leggett M. D., I, 342, 448 
Legislature, members of, I, 350 
Lenhart, Carl H., II, 254 
Lennox Building, I, 489 
Lennox Township, I, 160 
Leonard, W. A., I, 381 
Levin, Sydney, III, 308 
Levine, Manuel, I, 451; II, 64 
Lewis, Alfred H., I, 485 
Liberty Loan drive, I, 547 
Liberty (Newspaper), III, 271 
Libraries, Dover Township, I, 145 
Libraries, public, I, 295 
Library board, I, 416, 422 
Lighthouse, I, 358 
Lilly family, I, 146 
Ling, Benjamin E., Ill, 263 
Link, George W., Ill, 310 
Linndale Village, I, 75 
Lintz, Adam H., Ill, 265 
Litch family, I, 208 
Literary figures, I, 474 
Local government, I, 24 
Local option law, I, 136 
Locke, David R., I, 481 
Locomotive, first, I, 506 
Lodges, Brecksville Township, I, 58; 
Brooklyn Township, 78; Indepen¬ 
dence Township, 98; Middleburg 
Township, 138; Dover Township, 
151; Lakewood, 193; Chagrin Falls, 
234 

Log cabin, hard cider campaign, I, 60 
Log cabin home, I, 195 
Logan, Andrew, I, 474 
Logan, Raymond J., II, 296 
Logan Post, G. A. R., I, 56 
Long, David, I, 320, 361; (illustration) 
462 

Long, Thomas J., Ill, 132 
Loomis. Elisha S., II, 47 
Lorain Street Savings and Trust Com¬ 
pany, I, 502 

Lord, Samuel P., I, 63, 69 
Lottery. I, 332 
Lower, J. C , I, 468 
Lower, William E., I, 472 


Lowman, Isabel W., Ill, 130 
Lowman, John H., Ill, 127 
Lumber district, (illustration) I, 377 
Lumber trade, I, 523 
Lyceum Village, I, 128 
Lynch, Charles P., I, 193 
Lyndhurst, I, 243, 255 
Lyons, Dennis J., Ill, 131 

MacEwen, William E., II, 304 
Machine works, I, 508 
Madson, George R., Ill, 91 
Mahrer, Max, II, 195 
Mail, airplane, I, 553 
Maloney, Cornelius, III, 20 
Manxmen, settlers in Warrensville 
Township, I, 263 
Manual training, I, 418 
Manufacturers, Automobile, I, 504, 
509; clothing, 512 

Manufacturing, the White Company, 
I, 508 

Mapes, John, I, 198 
Mapes Brothers farm, I, 209 
Mapes family, I, 209 
Maple Heights races, I, 44 
Maple Heights Township, I, 43 
Maple Heights Village, I, 43 
Maple Sugar, I, 216 
Marble, Barzilla L., Ill, 181 
Marble Chair Company, I, 41 
Marcus, Sarah, II, 256 
-Maresh, Anthony L., II, 211 
Marietta, I, 21 
Marine hospital, I, 359, 376 
Marks, Nehemiah, I, 275 
Marvin, John, I, 31 
Maschke, Maurice, II, 78 
Maska, John E., II, 265 
Masonic orders, I, 525 
Mason Tire and Rubber Company, I, 
41 

Matches, I, 218 

Mather, Samuel, I, 431, 440, 465, 489; 
III, 165 

Mather, Samuel H., I, 493 
Mather, Samuel, Jr,, I, 299 
Mather, William G., II, 294 
Matia, Felix T., Ill, 22 
Matteson, John, III, 240 
Matuska, Ignatius W„ II, 320 
Maurer, Charles E., II, 169 
Mayfield Academy, I, 242 
Mayfield Township, I, 237; first settle¬ 
ment, 237; roads, 238; township offi¬ 
cers, 239; schools, 239; first mills, 
240; Mormonism, 240; physicians, 
242; churches, 242; Civil war sol¬ 
diers, 242; schools, 243; township 
officers, 244 

Mayfield Village, I, 243 
Mayors of Cleveland, I, 359, 364 
McArthur, Rial, I, 91 
McBride, Alexander, I, 129 
McBride, J. H., I, 427 
McBride, Leander, III, 158 
McBride, Ralph C., II, 209 
McCall. James H.. Ill, 223 
McClure. Albert E., Ill, 316 
McGannon, William H., I, 459 



INDEX 


xxi 


McGee, John B., Ill, 168 
McGonagle, John C., Ill, 279 
Mcllrath, A. C., I, 294 
Mcllrath, Thomas, I, 284 
McKay, Edward C., Ill, 25 
McKisson, Robert E., I, 366 
McLane, James W., superintendent of 
schools, I, 272 

McLaren, William E., I, 481 
McMahon, Sylvester V., II, 287 
McMyler Interstate Company, I, 41 
McQuigg, John R., II, 61 
Meacham, Levi E., I, 85 
Meacham, Roland T., II, 274 
Medical Building, I, 469 
Medical Central Building, I, 469 
Medical Clinics, I, 461 
Medical Colleges, I, 461; Cleveland, 
427, 464 

Medical practice in World war, I, 472 
Medical profession, I, 461 
Medicine, practice of in Independence 
Township, I, 98 
Mellen, Frank B., Ill, 317 
Memorial Woods of Harriet Keeler, I, 
538 

Memorials and Monuments, I, 543 
Merchants, I, 522 
Merwin, Noble H., I, 316 
Metcalf, Clarence S., Ill, 220 
Metropolitan Business College, II, 111 
Metropolitan Park Board, I, 538 
Mexican war, I, 97, 338 
Meyer, Edward S., I, 448 
/-Mica, I, 13 

Michigan-Ohio Boundary Dispute, 
(map) I, 30 

Middleburg Township, I, 121; first 
wedding in, 122; first church in, 123; 
township officials, 124; first things 
in township, 124; quarries, 124; 
schools, 126; first Sunday school in, 
127; temperance sentiment in, 127; 
first lawyer in, 127; first tavern in, 
127; Utopia, 127; industries, 128; 
first physician, 129; township offi¬ 
cials, 130; schools, 131; newspapers, 
136; churches, 137; fraternal orders, 
138 

Midland Bank, I, 501 
Mihelich, John L., Ill, 18 
Miles, Daniel, I, 281 
Military companies, I, 522 
Militia companies, I, 309 
Mill and Dam, Albion, (illustration) 
I, 114 

Mill Creek, I, 275 
Miller, Bertrand C., II, 178 
Miller, Dayton C., I, 110 
Miller, D. T., II, 72 
Miller, Edwin E., II, 303 
Miller, Elizabeth C. T., Ill, 4 
Miller, “Father,” prophecy, I, 229 
Millerites, I, 230 

Mills, Olmsted Township, I, 162; 

Cleveland rolling, 507 
Miner, Daniel, I, 169 
Mines, prehistoric copper, I, 12 
Minshall, William E., IT, 129 


Minton, Junius H., Ill, 240 
Missions, I, 380 
Mitchell, Horace E., Ill, 288 
Mix, Charles M., II, 147 
Mock, Wallace K., Ill, 101 
Molder, Henry M., II, 145 
Molyneaux, J. B., I, 342 
Money and banking, I, 491 
Monroe, William M., II, 171 
Monument to Marcus A. Hanna, 
(illustration) I, 537 

Monument to Tom L. Johnson, (illus¬ 
tration) I, 535 

Monuments and Memorials, I, 543 
Moore, Charles L., II, 157 
Moore, John J., II, 198 
Moorehead, Warren K., I, 9 
Morgan, Charles, I, 32 
Morley, Isaac, I, 226 
Mormonism, I, 226, 240 
Morrill, Alpheus, I, 215 
Morrison family, I, 220 
Morrow, James B., I, 487 
Morse, Florence, I, 62 
Morse, John, I, 214, 247 
Mortgage Companies, I, 502 
Morton, Samuel, I, 31 
Moses, Louis A., II, 86 
Mother Parker’s Tavern, I, 43 
Motor busses, I, 136 
Moulton' Edwin F., I, 421 
Mound Builders, I, 9; tools of, 13 
Mounds in Cuyahoga County, I, 15 
Moving Picture Theaters, I, 540 
Mueller, Jacob, I, 344 
Municipal bath house, I, 378 
Municipal Court, I, 24., 458; judges, 
459 

Municipal government, presidents of, 
I, 355 

Munro, Neil A., Ill, 67 

Munson, William, I, 95 

Munz, James J., II, 267 

Museum of Art, The Cleveland, I, 541 

Music, pioneer, I, 87 

Music in schools, I, 414 

Nail factory, pioneer, I, 148 
Nally, John A., II, 37 
Nash, Archibald C., II, 200 
Nast Theological Seminary, I, 135 
National Banks, I, 491 
National City Bank, I, 492 
National Refining Co., The, II, 304 
National Republican Convention, I, 
543 

Natural gas, I, 521 
Nau, Carl H., I, 428 
Navigation, I, 6; air, 521 
Needham, John, I, 94 
Neff, W. B., I, 458 
Negro colonization society, I, 336 
New York Central System, I, 515 
Newberry, Henry, I, 358 
Newburgh, I, 320; county seat, 332; 
363, 384, 517 

Newburgh Heights, T, 97, 279; Village. 
280 


XXII 


INDEX 


Newburgh Township, I, 275; first grist 
mill on Western Reserve, (illustra¬ 
tion) 274; 275; township officers, 
278; schools, 279; Austin Powder 
Company, 279; physicians, 280 
Newcomb, Nelson O., II, 113 
Newman, George A., Ill, 119 
Newspapers, Bedford, I, 41; Brooklyn 
village, 74; Berea, 136; Chagrin 
Falls, 229; 321; the first, 474; foreign 
language, 483 
Nicholas, Charles, I, 83 
Nicholas, James, I, 172, 182 
Nicholson, Ezra, I, 182 
Nicholson Log, inventor of, I, 183 
Nine Mile Creek, I, 287 
Nobles, Elijah, I, 29 
Nolan, James T., Ill, 295 
Normal School, I, 415 
Norris, Ahraham, I, 284 
North Dover, first postmaster of, I, 
146 

North Randall, I, 269 
North Solon, I, 206 
North Union Community, I, 265 
Northern Ohio Soldiers’ Aid Society, 
I, 343 

Northrop, Benjamin, I, 117, 118, 119 
Norton, Asher, I, 82 
Norton, Clifford, III, 191 
Northwest Territory, (map) I, 32 
Nottingham, I, 255 
Nungesser, Irene, I, 460; III, 281 
Nunn, Isidor C., III, 198 
Nursery, first in Royalton Township, 
I, 102 

•Nye, Nathaniel K., I, 31 

Odd Fellows, I, 528 
Ohio, admitted to Union, I, 22 
Ohio Business College, I, 432 
Ohio Canal, I, 54, 91, 95, 324, 334, 336, 
515, 519 

Ohio Canal Packets, (illustration) I, 
514 

Ohio City, I, 23, 69; mayors of, 72; 
359, 360 

Ohio counties, 1799, (map) I, 27 
Ohio’s first counties, 1796-1799, (map) 
I, 26 

Ohio State Jockey Club, I, 44 
Oil territory, I, 13 
Old Liberty Guard, I, 462 
Old Stone Church, I, 361, 387; (illus¬ 
tration) 400 

Old Trinity Church, (illustration) I, 
381 

Old workhouse, (illustration) I, 370 
Oldest house in city, I, 301 
Olds, Benjamin B., I, 113 
Olds, Edson B., I, 113 
Olmstead. Aaron, I, 161 
Olmsted Falls, I, 161, 163; village offi¬ 
cers, 165 

Olmsted, George H., Ill, 154 
Olmsted Township, I, 155; pioneer 
history, 155; pioneer tragedy, 156; 
first named Kingston, 157; first 
events, 158; first grist mill and saw¬ 
mill, 160; sugar making, 160; town¬ 


ship officers, 160; schools, 160; town¬ 
ship name changed from Lennox to 
Olmsted, 161; mills, 162; churches, 
162; stores, 162; debating school, 
162; railroads, 163; quarries, 163; 
industries, 163; schools, 165; town¬ 
ship officers, 165; soldiers from, 166 
-Omic, John, I, 43, 309, 314, 315 
One hundredth anniversary, I, 366 
Onion growing, Middleburg Town¬ 
ship, I, 130 
Open Shop, I, 530 
Orange Center, I, 198 
Orange Hill, I, 197 
Orange Township, I, 195; first settler, 
197; first election, 198; township 
officers, 198; first store, 206; Civil 
war soldiers, 206; dairying, 206; 
churches, 206; schools, 206; town¬ 
ship officers, 207 

Original glacial channel, (map) I, 5 
Orlikowski, Carl, II, 206 
Orr, Charles, I, 425 
Orr, George W., Ill, 84 
Orr, James, I, 33 
Orr, Stanley L., Ill, 319 
'Osborn, Eli, I, 127 
Osborn, Homer W., Ill, 77 
Osborne, Abner, II, 93 
Osborne, Abner W., II, 93 
• Osborne, C. M., I, 294 
Osborne, Francis M., II, 92 
Osborne, William M., II, 94 
Osteopathy, I, 472 
Otis, Charles A., I, 480; III, 164 
Otis, William A., (illustration) I, 361; 
490 

Otis Steel Company, I, 509 
Owens, John R., II, 151 

Paine, Edward, I, 223, 304 
Paine, Erwin, I, 100 
Paine, Robert F., I, 443, 483 
Paine, Seth, I, 48 
Paine, Mrs. Seymour, I, 376 
Paine, Winnie, I, 483 
Panic of 1837, I, 225, 228, 336 
Paper Company, the Cleveland, I, 507 
Paper Mills, first in Chagrin Falls, I, 
229; 232 

Park, Wade, I, 366 
Park Board, I, 535 
Park system, I, 370 
Parks, I, 534 

Parma Heights Village, I, 88 
Parma Township, I, 80; first settlers, 
81; first school, 82; first person born 
in township, 83; first death in town¬ 
ship, 83; first marriage ceremony in, 
83; first sermon in, 84; churches in, 
84; schools, 85; township officials, 
85; schools, 88 
Parochial schools, I, 430 
Parshall, Jonathan, I, 180 
Parsons, Richard C„ I, 351 
Patchen House, I, 168, 172 
Patriotic orders, I, 530 
Patriot’s war, I, 336 
Patterson, Robert L., II, 163 
Payer, Harry F., Ill, 34 


INDEX 


XXlll 


Payne, George M., I, 31, 34 

Payne, Henry B., I, 337, 351, 437; 

(illustration) 437 
Payor, Harry, I, 459 
Peake, George, I, 169 
Pearl Street Savings and Trust Com¬ 
pany, I, 496 
Pease, Noble, I, 187 
Pease, Seth, (illustration) I, 247; 300 
Pease’s Tavern, I, 303 
Peebles, E. D., I, 136 
Pelton, Frank H., Ill, 203 
Pelton, Seth, I, 252 
Perkins Block, (illustration) I, 359 
Perrin, John W., I, 425 
Perry, Nathan Sr., I, 333 
Perry, Nathan, I, 321 
Perry, Oliver H., I, 318 
Perry Day Parade, (illustration) I, 356 
Perry monument, I, 340; (illustration) 
536 

Perry’s victory, celebration of, I, 339, 
373 

Petroleum, I, 361 
Phare, William G., II, 158 
Phelps, E. J., I, 62 
Phillips, Francis C., II, 167 
Phinney, Benjamin, I, 146, 176 
Phinney family, I, 176 
Physicians, first in Bedford Township, 
I, 35; in Brecksville Township, 54; 
in Independence Township, 95; in 
Strongsville Township, 113; in 
Middleburg Township, 129; in Berea 
Township, 137; in Dover Township, 
143; in Solon Township, 215; in 
Chagrin Falls, 225; in Mayfield 
Township, 242; in Newburgh Town¬ 
ship, 280; in Cleveland, 315; and Sur¬ 
geons, 461; first women, 464 
Pickands, Henry S., I, 432 
Pilgrim Church Institute, I, 401 
Pillars, A. J., I, 136 
Pindras, John M., II, 271 
Pioneers, I, 16; work, 26; days, 27; so¬ 
cial life, 28; music, 87; recreation of, 
I, 103; lighting, 116; highways, 146; 
manufacturers, 148; history, signifi¬ 
cance of, 155; tragedy, Olmsted 
Township, 156; life, hardships of, 
171; names in Warrensville Town¬ 
ship, 263; families of Warrensville, 
268; hat, 320; of Lakewood, 181 
Pioneer Parade, (illustration) I, 159 
Plain Dealer, I, 474 
Plain Dealer, I, 480 
Plain Dealer Newspaper Plant, I, 482 
Plank road, I, 34, 189, 242; the first, 
268; Station, 268 
Playgrounds, I, 537 
Playhouse Square, I, 540 
Playhouses, I, 534 
Plum Creek, I, 8 
Podunk money, I, 125 
Poe, Joseph M, I, 89 
Polish Army, I, 551 
Political Clubs of Cleveland, I, 532 
Politics, Independence Township, I, 
96 

Polygamy, I, 227 


Population in 1850, I, 338 
Port of Cleveland, I, 360 
Porter, Asahel, I, 141, 146 
Porter, Morris, I, 258 
Porter, Nehemiah, I, 143 
Porter, Samuel, I, 144 
Porter family, of Dover, I, 144 
Porter Library, I, 145 
Potash, manufacture of, I, 116; ash- 
eries in Dover Township, 148 
Potter, James, I, 220 
Powell, Emory A., II, 300 
Powell, William R., Ill, 216 
Prehistoric copper mines, I, 12 
Prenter, William B., II, 63 
Prentiss, James, I, 261 
Prentiss, Luther, I, 262 
Prentiss, Samuel B., I, 442 
Prescott, William, II, 6 
Presidential campaign of 1840, I, 153, 
228 

Presidents of municipal government, 
I, 355 

Press, the, I, 474 
Prestien, Charles T., Ill, 183 
Pritchard, Benjamin F., I, 232 
Private Schools, I, 36 
Probate Court, I, 345 
Prohibition amendment, I, 524 
Prosecuting Attorneys, I, 346 
Prosser, Dillon, I, 385 
Public Buildings, I, 534, 538 
Public improvements, I, 353; roads, 
353 

Public Library, I, 416, 420, 422 
Public Square, I, 363; (illustration) 
497; 505, 515, 534 
Public Utilities, I, 521 
Pyke, Bernice S., II, 30 
Pythias, Knights of, I, 528 

Quarries, 89, 92; Middleburg Town¬ 
ship, 121; Olmsted Township, 163; 
Rockport Township, 170, 254 
Quilliams, Frederick F., Ill, 98 
Quilliams, William, I, 294 
Quinby, Janet F., Ill, 106 
Quinby, May C., III, 106 
Quinby, William H., Ill, 105 

Race track, I, 44 
Radcliffe, William K., II, 99 
Ragged school, I, 385 
Railroads, I, 128; at Berea, 129, 136, 
163, 190, 219, 230; electric, 235, 253; 
Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula, 
253; 268, 288, 322, 337; to Cincin¬ 
nati, 360; 515; Belt Line, 515 
Railway Trainmen, Brotherhood of, I, 
530 

Randall Station, I, 268 
Ranney, Rufus P., I, 344, 438 
Rapid transit line, in Shaker Heights 
Village, I, 271 
Rappe, Bishop, I, 394 
Rathbun, Edmund, I, 276 
Rattlesnakes, I, 49 
Raymond, Samuel A., Ill, 133 
Read, Opie, I, 488 
Real estate values, I, 19 




XXIV 


INDEX 


Realty Investment Company, II, 172 
Red Cross Work, I, 546; Drive, 548 
Reed, David C., II, 297 
Reformed Church, first, I, 404 
Reid, Thomas, II, 114 
Reitz, Henry G., Ill, 192 
Remington, Justus, I, 31 
Renker, Henry G., Ill, 144 
Renker, Julius, III, 145 
Republican, National Convention, I, 
543 

Republican Party, formation of, I, 479 

Revivals, I, 38 

Revolutionary war, I, 331 

Reynolds, Iri, I, 456 

Rhodes, Dan P., I, 183 

Rhodes, James H., I, 448 

Rice, Harvey, I, 339, 351, 362, 435; 

monument, (illustration) 539 
Richmond Heights Village, I, 255 
Rickey, Harry N., I, 483 
Rickoff, Andrew J., I, 412, 413; (illus¬ 
tration) 414 
Riddle, A. G., I, 487 
Rigelhaupt, William, III, 222 
Righter, John, I, 277 
Riley, George B., II, 193 
Ritter, H. A., Ill, 309 
River Road, I, 97 
Riverside Village, I r 243 
Roads, first, I, 34; 97; Strongsville 

Township, 113, 146; Rockport, 

Township, 169; 238; public improve¬ 
ment of, 353 

Robbins, Archibald, I. 216 
Robbins, Jason, I, 212 
Robbins, S. H., II, 94 
Robbins family, I, 212 
Robechek, Emil, III, 64 
Roberts, George H., II, 204 
Robertson, T. A., II, 279 
Robinett, Allen, I, 34 
Robinson, Benjamin, I, 170 
Robinson, John P., I, 463 
Robinson, Ted, I, 487 
Rockefeller, John D., I, 392, 507, 536 
Rockport Township, I, 168; first white 
settler, 168; roads, 169; Common 
Pleas judges, 169; quarries, 170; 
pioneer life, 171; first tavern, 172; 
first tannery, 172; first marriage, 
173; Indians, 173; postoffices, 174; 
township officers, 175; churches, 
177; schools, 177 

Rocky River, I, 4, 168; first bridge 
over, 174 

Rocky River bridge, I, 208; (illus¬ 
tration) 337 

Rocky River Railroad, I, 183 
Rocky River Village, I, 177; officers 
of, 180 

Rope making, I, 102 
Rose, Charles T., II, 252 
Rose, Mrs. W. G, III, 139 
Rose, William G., Ill, 231 
Rose, William R., I, 487 
Rosenthall, Lester M.. II. 278 
Rounds. William A., II, 134 
Rouse, Mrs. Benjamin, I, 342 
Rouse, Rebecca E.. II. 293 


Rowe, Joseph J., Ill, 42 
Rowland, Amy F., II, 259 
Royalton Township, I, 99; first settle¬ 
ment in, 99; first nursery in, 102; 
first frame building in, 102; first 
postmaster of, 103; sawmills, 103; 
first tavern in, 104; postoffice, 104; 
Weather Bureau station, 104; town¬ 
ship officials, 105; first election, 105; 
township officers, 106; churches, 
106; schools, 108; first teacher, 108 
Royalton Township, dairy section, I, 
109 

Rudolph, Lucretia, I, 203, 204 
Ruetenik, Martin L., II, 308 
Ruggles, Benjamin, I, 333 
Ruggles Family, I, 280 
Ruple, John, I, 250, 284 
Russell, Melinda, I, 265 
Russell, Ralph, I, 265 
Russell Family, I, 266 
Ruth, Gordon W., II, 262 
Ryan, William F., II, 164 
Ryder, James F., I, 484 

Salisbury, John H., I, 463 
Saloons, in Berea, I, 136 
Salt, I, 13 

Sanders, J. C., I, 463 
Sanders, William B., I, 446, 541; III, 
306 

Sanitary fair, I, 343 
Sargis, Yacob A., II, 116 
Savage, Hugh J., Ill, 69 
Savage, James B., Ill, 217 
Savage, Mary T., Ill, 218 
Savings and Loan Companies, I, 502 
Savings and Trust Company, Central 
National Bank, I, 501 
Savings and Trust Company, Lorain 
Street, I, 502 
Sawicki, Joseph F., II, 34 
Sawmills, T, 27, 103; 160 
Sawyer, Wilbur J., Ill, 93 
Saxton, Eva C., II, 316 
Saxton, Frank R., II, 315 
Scales, Isaac, I, 158 
Scenic Park, I, 183 
Schade, Otto M., Ill, 293 
Schaefer, Henry G., II, 58 
Scherz, Ralph A , III, 211 
Schlather, Anna C. S., II, 24 
Schlather, Leonard, II, 22 
Schmehl, George E., II, 294 
Schmitt, Carl, III, 55 
Schneller, Paul, II, 239 
School apparatus factory, I, 128 
Schools, I, 27; Bedford Township, 35; 
Brecksville Township, 56; Brooklyn 
Township, 67; first in Parma Town¬ 
ship, I, 85, 88; in Independence 

Township, 95; Royalton Township, 
108; Strongsville Township, 113, 
118; Berea Township, 126; Middle- 
burg Township, 131; Dover Town¬ 
ship, 150; Olmsted Township, 160, 
165; consolation agitation, 165; 
Rockport Township, 177; Lake- 
wood Township. 192; Orange 
Township, 206; Solon Township, 


INDEX 


XXV 


221; Chagrin Falls, 231; Mayfield 
Township, 239, 243; Euclid Town¬ 
ship, 257; Warrensville Township, 
267; Shaker Heights Village, 270; 
Cleveland Heights, 272, 279, 290; 
East Cleveland, 295; first in Cleve¬ 
land, 307, 318; and Libraries, 407; 
superintendents, 413; system of 
1892, 419; of Catholic Church, 430; 
of Lutheran Church, 431; of music, 
433 

Schreiner, Paul P., II, 197 
Schrembs, Joseph C., I, 395 
Schumacher, Leo S., II, 185 
Schurman, John, II, 238 
Schwab, Henry A., II, 202 
Schwan, Ernst C., III, 196 
Scott, F\fank A., I, 512, 544 
Scott, William J., I, 464 
Scott, Winfield, I, 338 
Screw propeller, the first, I, 521 
Serious Publishing Company, I, 483 
Searles, L. S., I, 106 
Second National Bank, I, 495 
Seibig, Arthur H., Ill, 85 
Seither, Frank, III, 206 
Seliskar, James M., Ill, 221 
Selzer, Charles L., I, 74; III, 53 
Semple, William J., Ill, 116 
Senators, state, I, 350 
Seneca Chief, I, 332 
Settlement, I, 26 
Severance, Mary H., Ill, 230 
Severance, Solon L., Ill, 152 
Sewing machines, I, 509 
Shaker communities, I, 265; North 
Union Community, 265; Union Vil¬ 
lage, 265 

Shaker Covenant, I, 265 
Shaker Families, I, 266; East Family, 
266; Center Family, 266; Mill Fam¬ 
ily, 266 

Shaker Heights Village, I, 264, 269, 
270; schools, I, 270; rapid transit 
line, I, 271; 515 
Shakers, The, I, 262, 264 
Shanty Town, I, 535 
Sharp, B. F., I, 8 
Shattuck, A. L., I, 41 
Shaw, John, I, 284 
Shaw Academy, I, 259, 284, 289 
Shaw High School, I, 284, 296 
Shea, Timothy, III, 137 
Shea, (John) old house, (illustration) 
I, 51 

Sheep industry, Dover Township, I, 
153 

Sheldon, Henry O., I, 127, 137 
Shem, Carl A., II, 166 
Shepard, Aaron, I, 33 
Shepard, Jason, I, 31 
Shepherd, Francis A., Ill, 237 
Shepherd, John, I, 99, 100 
Sheriffs, I, 347 
Sherman, Charles, I, 451 
Sherman, Henry S., Ill, 32 
Sherwin-Williams Company, I, 504 
Sherwood, W. E., I, 104 
Shimansky, O. K., II, 280 
Shinplasters (illustration) I, 491 


Ship building, I, 253; industry, 311; in 
Cleveland, 316 
Ship canal I, 6 

Shipping interests, I, 336, 515 
Shumaker, F. B., I, 235 
Sickels, Sheldon, III, 251 
Siegrist, Charles F., Ill, 108 
Siemon, Lester E., II, 80 
Silk industry, I, 294 
Singleton, Wilfred, II, 51 
Skeel, Lee E., II, 140 
Skeels, A. K., I, 62 
Skeels, Arthur, I, 62 
Skeels, Frank, I, 62 
Skinner, David P., I, 93 
Skinner, Ichabod, I, 93 
Slaves, runaway of, I, 337; fugitive, 
399 

Slavery, question of, I, 291 

Sloan, Laura S., II, 221 

Smigel, Peter S., II, 314 

Smith, Joseph, I, 12 

Smith, Sylvanus, I, 144 

Smyth, Anson, I, 344 

Smythe, A. Burns, III, 23 

Snake story, I, 237 

Snell, Carlisle H., Ill, 302 

Snow, Jane E., I, 85, 86, 107; II, 104 

Social settlement, I, 127 

Socialism, I, 226 

Socialistic community, I, 128 

Society for Savings, I, 492 

Soils, I, 3 

Soldiers, from Independence Town¬ 
ship, I, 97; from Dover Township, 
152; in War of 1812, 334; in Civil 
War of Cuyahoga County, 340; in 
World War, 549 

Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument, (il¬ 
lustration) I, 341 
Soldiers' home, I, 343 
Solon Township, I, 212; early settlers, 
213; first school teacher, 213; town¬ 
ship officers, 214; first marriage, 
,215; first physician, 215; churches, 
215; schools, 215; maple sugar, 216; 
first store, 216; Civil War soldiers, 
219; railroad, 219; churches, 219; 
township officers, 219; schools, 221 
Sorter, Elijah, I, 241 
Sorter, Harry, I, 245 
South Brooklyn, I, 72 
South Euclid Village, I, 255 
South Newburgh, I, 97 
Spafford, Miss Anna, I, 407 
Spafford’s Map of Cleveland, 1801, 
I, 20 

Spalding, Rufus P., I, 438 
Spang, Fredericka, II, 175 
Spang, Julius, II, 175 
Spang, William, II, 175 
Spaulding, F. E., I, 421 
Spaulding, Orson F., II, 289 
Spencer, Jonathan, I, 175 
Spencer, Platt R., I, 432 
Spencer House, I, 281 
Sperry, Amos, I, 144 
Spofford, Hiram, I, 31 
Sprague, Calvin, I, 105 
Sprague, David, I, 105 


XXVI 


INDEX 


Sprague, Ernest M., II, 282 
Sprague, Knight, I, 102 
Squire, Andrew, I, 445; III, 16 
St. Alexis, I, 469; Hospital, (illustra¬ 
tion) 467 

St. John’s Church, (illustration) I, 
382 

St. Luke’s Hospital, I, 469 
St. Vincent Hospital, I, 466 
St. Ignatius College, I, 428 
Stafford, Jonas, III, 280 
Stafford, Oliver M., Ill, 280 
Stage Lines, I, 514 

Standard Oil Company, I, 361, 507; 

Works, (illustration) 510 
Stanley, John J., Ill, 226 
Stannard, Charles B., Ill, 301 
Starkweather, Samuel, I, 435, 444 
State Bank statue, I, 322 
State Banking and Trust Company, 
I, 500 

State Road, I, 97 
State senators, I, 350 
Steamboats, coming of, I, 520 
Stearns, D. J., I, 157, 160, 166 
Stearns, Elijah, I, 157 
Stearns, F. M., I, 129 
Stecher, Frederick W., II, 32 
Stecher, Henry W., I, 497; II, 29 
Steel and Wire Company, the Ameri¬ 
can, I, 507 

Stein, Carl A., Ill, 245 
Stephan, Kate, I, 415 
Stetson, Charles, I, 444 
Steuer, David B., Ill, 134 
Stevens, Henry S., I, 517 
Stewart, Gabrielle, I, 460 
Stewart, N. Coe, I, 414 
Stigwanish, I, 332 
Stiles, Mrs. Job, I, 303 
Stinchcomb, William A., I, 538 
Stober, George W., II, 319 
Stocking, Joseph, I, 143 
Stockwell, John N., I, 61; III, 124 
Stomach pump, I, 98 
Stone, Amasa, I, 492 
Stone, Carlos M., I, 110, 119, 442 
Stone, John W., Ill, 199 
Stone, Walter F., I, 116, 119 
Stone, Warren S., I, 530; II, 8 
Stone Cutting Mill, I, 253 
Stone showing footprints of animals, 
(illustration) I, 7 
Stores, I, 523 

Stranahan, J. J., I, 229, 235 
Streator, D. G., I, 35 
Street railways, I, 336, 451, 517 
Strickland Block, (illustration) I, 358 
Strimple, Theodore L„ II, 102 
Strohm, Jacob, I, 220 
Strong, Caleb, I, 111 
Strong, John S., I, 111, 113, 116 
Strong, L., I, 97 
Strongsville Center, I, 117 
Strongsville Township, I, 110; first 
marriage in, 112; Indians, 112; first 
things in township, 113; township 
officers. 113; education, 113; high¬ 
ways, 113; churches, 114; industries, 
116; last bear hunt, 117; schools, 


118; Civil war soldiers, 119; Bar, 
119 

Stucky, Albert G., Ill, 247 
Subers, Lawrence A., Ill, 286 
Subways, I, 516 

Sugar making, Olmsted Township, I, 
160 

Sullivan, C. E., Ill, 7 
Sullivan, Jeremiah J., Ill, 6 
Sullivan, John J., I, 352, 446, 451, 453, 
457, 489, 502, 532; III, 281 
Sunday Schools, first in Middleburg 
Township, I, 127; in Olmsted Town¬ 
ship, 162 

Sunkle, Robert H., Ill, 250 
Superintendent of Cleveland Schools, 
I, 412 

Superior and Seneca streets, (illus¬ 
tration) I, 375 
Superior Court, I, 450 
Superior Street High Level bridge, 
I, 208 

Superior Street viaduct, I, 19, 354, 479 
Surgeons and Physicians, I, 461 
Surveys, original, I, 25 
Svoboda, Frank J., Ill, 189 
Swasey, Ambrose, I, 512; III, 167 
Sweeney, Martin L., Ill, 40 
Sykora, Joseph, II, 180 
Szabadsag (Liberty), III, 271 

Tannery, first in Rockport Township, 
I, 172 

Tanno, Giuseppe, III, 199 
Taverns, first, I, 31; early, 93; first in 
Royalton Township, 104; in 
Strongsville Township, 115; in Mid¬ 
dleburg Township, 127; in Dover 
Township, 146; in Rockport Town¬ 
ship, 172; in Warrensville Town¬ 
ship, 268 

Tayler, Robert W., I, 451 
Taylor, Benjamin F., I, 485; II, 292 
Taylor, Mrs. B. F., I, 421 
Taylor, Daniel R., Ill, 10 
Taylor, John, I, 143 
Taylor, Philo, I, 143, 168 
Taylor, Royal, I, 220 
Taylor, Vincent A., I, 40 
Taylor, William W., Ill, 237 
Taylor, W. O., I, 30, 40 
Teachers, Bedford Township, I, 36 
Teachout, Abraham, I, 109 
Teachout, Abraham Sr., I, 104 
Teachout, Catherine C., I, 102 
Teachout (A) Company, I, 105 
Telegraph, I, 522 
Temperance pledge, I, 174 
Temperance question, I, 105, 129 
Temperance sentiment, Independence 
Township, I, 97 

Temperance Society, Brecksville 

Township, I, 59; societies, 531 
Theatres, I, 539 
Thomas, Fred W., Ill, 270 
Thomas, George F., Ill, 30 
Thompson, J. Paul, III, 300 
Thompson, Robert, I, 220 
Thorp, Clark N., III, 149 
Thorp, Cornelius, I, 287 


INDEX 


XXVll 


Thorp, W. A., I, 245 
Three Cent Fare, I, 366, 369, 518 
Thwing, Charles F., I, 427; III, 147 
Tiffin, Edward, I, 22 
Tilden, Daniel R., I, 345 
Tilden, Henry A., II, 12 
Tinker, Joseph, I, 29 
Tinker's Creek, I, 29 
Tinnerman, George A., Ill, 113 
Tippecanoe Club, I, 531 
Tisdale,^George A., Ill, 218 
Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Rail¬ 
way, I, 163 

Tomson, John G., Ill, 220 
Tool &; Supply Company, the Cleve¬ 
land, I, 509 

Tools of Mound Builders, I, 13 
Topography, I, 3 
Torches for illuminating, I, 116 
Total Abstinence Society, I, 127 
Tourists Camp, Albion, I, 114 
Town House Corners, I, 162 
Town Meetings, I, 525 
Townes, Clayton C., II, 41 
Townsend, Amos, II, 291 
Townships, I, 24; original, of Cuya¬ 
hoga County, 25 
Trade, I, 515 

Transportation, I, 17, 34, 515 
Treadway, Augustine R., Ill, 296 
Treadway, Francis W., I, 460; III, 298 
Trial of Cassie Chadwick, I, 453 
Trinity Cathedral, I, 380 
Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church, 
I, 380 

Trumbull County, I, 22, 23 
Trust Company, Cleveland, I, 498 
Tuberculosis, early treatment of, I, 
143 

Tuberculosis hospital, I, 370 
Tucker, Charles H., Ill, 28 
Turkey Foot Grove, I, 167 
Turner, J. M., I, 35 
Turney, Joseph, I, 281 
Turnpike companies, I, 114 
Tuttle, Benjamin, I, 127 
Tyler, Washington S., Ill, 3 

Underground Railway, I, 43, 60, 184 
Union Club House, (illustration), I, 
527; Club, 533 

Union Grange, Brecksville Township, 
I, 58 

Union Oil Company of Cleveland, III, 
107 

Union Passenger Station, I, 515 
Union Trust Building, I, 489 
Union Trust Company, I, 489 
Union Village, I, 265 
United Banking and Savings Com¬ 
pany, I, 501 

United States in 1783, (map) I, 18 
United States Mortgage Co., The, 
III, 312 

University School, I, 419, 431 
University School Building, (illustra¬ 
tion) I, 426 

Upton, Harriet T., I, 485; II, 286 
Ursuline Academy, I, 431 


Utopia, in Middleburg Township, I, 
127 

Valley Railroad, I, 91 
Valway, William H., II, 123 
Van De Boe, H. Robert, II, 99 
Van De Boe, Joseph S., II, 98 
Van D Boe-Hager Company, II, 98 
Vanderwerf, Anna H., Ill, 67 
Vanderwerf, Jacob W., Ill, 65 
Van Dorn, James H., Ill, 267 
Van Scoter Bottoms, I, 170 
Van Sweringen, M. J., I, 515 
Van Sweringen, O. P., I, 515 
Vaughn, Ephraim, I, 122, 124, 125 
Vaughn, Jonathan, I, 121 
Vaughn’s log gristmill, I, 104 
Vickery, Willis, I, 135, 451; III, 140 
Village of Cleveland, I, 313 
Village of Newburgh, I, 279 
Villages of Warrensville Township, I, 
269; Idlewood Village, 269; Shaker 
Heights Village, 269; East View 
Village, 269; North Randall, 269; 
Cleveland Heights, 269 
Vincent, Justus H., I, 225 
Vinson, Robert E., I, 427 
Volk, Samuel H., Ill, 184 

Wagar, Mars, I, 173 
Wagar family, I, 176, 183 
Waibel, Henry, III, 63 
Waite, Walter, I, 52 
Waitt, Maude C., I, 352; II, 25 
Walk-in-the-Water, first steamboat, I, 
321; (illustration) 519 
Wallace, Charlotte, I, 112 
Wallace, James, I, 132 
Wallace, Robert, II, 34 
Walter, Eugene, I, 485 
Walworth, A. D., I, 258 
Walworth, A. W., (illustration) I, 511 
Walworth, John, I, 333 
War Board, I, 545 
War Industries, I, 545 
War of 1812, I, 43, 97, 122, 251, 286, 
312; Cleveland soldiers in, 334 
War Record of Euclid Township, I, 
254 

Ward, Artemus, I, 481, 484 
Ward, Harry H„ III, 121 
Warner, William H., II, 133 
Warner, Worcester R., Ill, 225 
Warner and Swasey Company, I, 512 
Warnsman, Henry F., II, 189 
Warren, Daniel, I, 260 
Warren, Mrs. Daniel, I, 260 
Warren Family, I, 261 
Warrensville farm, I, 369 
Warrensville Township, I, 260; first 
settler, 260; woman pioneer, 260; 
first birth, 261; pioneer names, 263; * 
emigration from Isle of Man to, 
264; the Shakers, 264; Schools, 267; 
first postmaster, 267; plank road, 
268; railroads, 268; taverns, 268; 
pioneer families, 268; officers, 268; 
villages of, 269 

Warrensville Township, workhouse 
and infirmary in, I, 273 


XXV111 


INDEX 


Washburn, Timothy, I, 30 
Washington County, I, 19, 23 
Water power, I, 31; in Chagrin Falls, 
231 

Water power mills, I, 92 
Water supply, I, 362 
Waterworks, I, 360 
Way, Rexford D., Ill, 73 
Wayne County, I, 21, 23 
Weather Bureau Station, Rayalton 
Township, I, 104 
Weber, G. C. E., I, 467 
Webster, Samuel J., Ill, 90 
Weddell House, I, 92 (illustration); 
360, 539 

Weed, F. J., I, 468 

Weiss, Wilbur G., Ill, 92 

Weld, John N., Ill, 41 

Wells, Oliver, I, 213 

Wells family, I, 213 

West Cleveland, I, 75 

West Manual Training School, I, 419 

West Side, I, 23 

West Park City, I, 177; officers of, 181 
West Side Municipal Market House 
(illustration) I, 363 
West Technical High School, I, 419 
West View, I, 163 
Westenhaver, D. C., I, 452 
Western Reserve, I, 22 
Western Reserve, 1796, (map) I, 33 
Western Reserve Historical Society, 
I, 362 

Western Reserve Medical College, I, 
186 

Western Reserve School of Medicine, 
I, 464 

Western Reserve University, I, 425 
Weygandt, Carl V., II, 137 
Wheeler, Wm. J., I, 275 
Wheelock, Lincoln A., Ill, 170 
Whig, Cleveland, I, 476 
Whisky, at house raisings, I, 105 
Whisky, drinking, I, 174 
Whisky Lane, I, 59 
Whitaker, May C., I, 37, 421; III, 254 
White, Henry C., I, 345, 440 
White, John G., I, 425, 446; III, 152 
White, Pierre A., I, 460; III, 263 
White Manufacturing Company, I, 
508 

Whittern, Charles S., I, 85; III, 259 
Whittern, Mrs. Charles S., I, 165 
Whittlesey, Charles, I, 15, 476, 484; 

(illustration) 486 
Whittlesey, Frederick, I, 531 
Wiegand, Edward A., II, 218 
Wigman, John H., II, 84 
Wilcox, Edwin, I, 104 
Wilcox, Frank, I, 62 
Wilcox, Frank N., I, 460 
Wilcox, John, I, 62 
Wilcox, John M., I, 85, 136, 376, 483 
Wilcox, Josiah, I, 54 
Wilcoxen, Harry H., Ill, 262 
Wilhelmy, Christopher B., Ill, 311 
Wilkins, George R., Ill, 174 
Wilkinson, Claude A., Ill, 254 
Willey, John W., (illustration) I, 70; 
363, 434 


Willeyville, I, 71 
Williams, Aaron, I, 297 
Williams, Guy H., I, 282 
Williams, Robert W., II, 106 
Williamson, Samuel, I, 435, 493; (il¬ 
lustration) I, 441 

Williamson, Samuel E., Ill, 143 
Willis, Luther, I, 31 
Willis, Ziba, I, 31, 34 
Willow (village) I, 94 
Willson, Frederick, I, 244 
Willson, Hiram V., I, 437, 444, 451 
Willson’s Mills, I, 241 
Wilmot, Ernest P., I, 234; III, 83 
Wilson, John, I, 151 
Winch, Louis H., Ill, 21 
Winchester, Philander, I, 184 
Winchester family, I, 184 
Wing, Francis J., I, 452; III, 37 
Wing, Marie R., Ill, 39 
Winslow and Cushing Homes, (illus¬ 
tration) I, 371 
Wischmeier, Elmer, III, 118 
Wischmeier, William, III, 117 
Withington, Albert L., I, 495 
Witthuhn, Frederick C., Ill, 48 
Witthuhn, Walter W., Ill, 48 
Wolcott, Samuel, I, 52 
Wolff, John, I, 94 
Wolff, Levi, I, 94 
Woman’s hospital, I, 471 
Women, place of, I, 68; lawyers, 460; 
pioneer, 260; as principals in 
schools, 414; in Civil war, 342; in 
medicine, 464, 471 
Wood, Charles L., II, 231 
Wood, Reuben, I, 320, 344; (illustra¬ 
tion) 350; 434 
Wooden dishes, I, 126 
Woods, John L., I, 464 
Woods, William B., II, 179 
Wool market, Dover Township, I, 153 
Woolen factory, Strongsville Town¬ 
ship, I, 117 

Woolsey, John M., I, 337 
Woolsey, Sarah C., I, 484 
Woolson, Constance F., I, 484; II, 292 
Workhouse and infirmary in War- 
rensville Township, I, 273 
World War, I, 97, 376; medical of¬ 
ficers, 468; practice, 472; 484, 543, 
in Cleveland, 544; first death list, 
552 

Worthington, George, III, 172 
Worthington, George H., Ill, 155 
Wright, Rufus, I, 171, 174 
Writers, I, 474 
Writing, art of, I, 11 
Wyatt, James E., I, 119 
Wyatt, Major, I, 275 
Wyckoff, Wilson H., II, 266 
Wyrick, David, I, 11 

Yawberg, Alfred G., II, 253 
“Yellow Grocery,” I, 94 
Yoder, Harvey E., Ill, 195 
Yoder, Ivan I., II, 117 
York, Robert H., Ill, 282 
York Street, I, 103 


INDEX 


Youghiogheny & Oil Coal Company, 
II, 92 

Young, Ansel, I, 323 

Zeisberger, Moravian missionary, I, 19 
Ziemer, William O., Ill, 297 


Zimerman, Charles X, II, 187 
Zimmer, John A., Ill, 98 
Zimmerman, Gus, II, 285 
Zinner, Nicholas L., Ill, 214 
Zipp, John, III, 87 
Zmunt, Jerry R., Ill, 289 







: 


























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General Moses Cleaveland 



CUYAHOGA COUNTY 

AND THE 

CITY OF CLEVELAND 


CHAPTER I 

BEFORE THE RED MAN AND THE FORESTS OUR 
PIONEERS FOUND 

Geologists, aided and abetted by the paleontologists, and all backed 
tip by the archaeologists, tell us that Cuyahoga County was once a part 
of a broad continental area, composed of the same rocks that now con¬ 
stitute the highlands of Canada and the Adirondacks of New York. In 
process of time this area began to sink and the sea gradually encroached 
upon its surface finally covering all except the Canadian highlands and 
the Adirondacks, which have never been submerged. 

From this sea in its various advances and retrogressions our different 
geological formations have been deposited. These consist of sandstones, 
shales, limestone, and conglomerate, and a commingling of these different 
rocks, clay, sand and gravel. 

All continental areas are constantly suffering erosion from rain, rivers 
and shore waves and the material is carried into the ocean basin and 
deposited along the shore. In deeper waters accumulate the finer 
particles, washed from the shore or contributed by the rivers, usually fine 
clay or sand. Beyond the point where the wash from the land or the 
shore waves reach, there is constantly accumulating a stratum derived 
from various forms of life inhabiting the ocean. Most of this life is 
provided with shells and so their remains when decomposed form a 
calcareous mud known to the sailors as ooze. 

When the sea invades the land, each of these formations will be 
extended inland, the sheet of sand and gravel reaching as far as the 
■submergence progresses, the finer sediment not extending so far but over¬ 
lapping. These strata when consolidated by pressure and heat and the 
deposit of silica or carbonate of lime, become conglomerate from gravel, 
sandstone from sand, shale from clay, and limestone from ooze. 

Proof of the sunken continent and the deposits referred to are appar¬ 
ent to geologists as they study the formations and read the story from 
the fossils therein contained. As they approach the Canadian highlands 
and the Adirondacks the drama unfolds like the plot of a story. 

In the process of ages the continent was raised up and Cuyahoga 
County, when the elevation came, had a climate like that of Greenland, 

3 


Vol. 1-1 



4 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


due in part to astronomical causes; so cold that whenever there was a 
copious precipitation of moisture from oceanic evaporation, glaciers were 
formed, which flowed by various routes towards the sea, increasing in 
velocity with the elevation. At this time, archaeologists tell us, man was 
here. Man, in a state of development similar to that of the Eskimo, 
was hunting the mastodon and the reindeer, and the walrus, even in 
Kentucky, and the Valley of the Ohio was a long, irregular lake. There 
were no Niagara Falls, and no Lake Erie, but where the courthouse and 
city hall stands, the mammoth made his bed undisturbed by the sights 
and sounds of a great city. 

The course of these ancient glaciers corresponded in a general way 
with the present channels of drainage. One of these ice rivers flowed 
from Lake Huron along a channel now filled, up with drift, and 
known to be at least 150 feet deep, into Lake Erie, which was 
then not a lake, but an excavated valley into which the streams of 
Northern Ohio flowed, 100 feet or more below the present lake 
level. Following the line of the major axis of what is now Lake 
Erie to near its eastern extremity, here turning northward or north¬ 
east, this glacier passed through some channel (now filled up) on the 
Canadian side into Lake Ontario and thence found its way to the sea, 
either by the St. Lawrence or by the Mohawk and Hudson. 

At this period the continent was elevated several hundred feet higher 
than now, giving rapid fall to the ice rivers. 

This glacial or ice period was followed by a water period, when the 
continent was depressed 500 feet or more below its present level; when 
the climate was much warmer than before, when the glaciers retreated 
northward and were gradually replaced in the basin of the Great Lakes 
by an inland sea of fresh water. Then followed the “drama of the drift.” 
Then came the deposits of clay dropped from melting icebergs floating 
down to prepare this territory for vegetation that should sustain our lives. 

When our lake-basin glaciers had retreated to the highlands north 
of the lakes, icebergs were detached from them, which floated south¬ 
ward, sowing sand, clay, gravel and boulders broadcast, just as they 
are now doing over the Banks of Newfoundland and the bottom of the 
Antarctic Ocean. 

Over Cuyahoga County were largely sown the clays, and these con¬ 
tain as proof of the geologists’ conclusions, fossils of pines and spruces 
and Arctic shells from northern latitudes. These clays so generously 
spread, grew the forests that our pioneers found, and furnished the basis • 
for the soil that supports the teeming population of today. 

During the water period, the old glacial channels of the rivers, deeply 
excavated, were silted up, in many cases entirely obliterated by these 
drift deposits. 

Following the water period ensued an era of continental elevation, 
which progressed until the present elevation was reached. By this eleva¬ 
tion the old lines of drainage were reestablished and the rivers began 
the work of clearing out the old channels. In most cases this work is 
not half done. In some instances the streams did not follow the old 
glacial channels, but the originals can be charted. 

The Cuyahoga enters Lake Erie at Cleveland more than 100 feet 
above the rock bottom of its excavated trough, and Chagrin River 
the same. Rocky River is one that did not follow the old glacial channel. 
Dr. D. T. Gould of Berea, by infinite pains and untiring labor, has traced 
this old channel practically from the lake to its source. By reference 
to the map which he prepared, and which shows the result of his labors, 
and which we print by his kind permission, you can easily follow the 



Map Prepared by Dr. D. T. Gould 
Showing original glacial channel of Rocky River, as traced by him, 
and present course of the stream 



6 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


course of this channel, which only at one or two points is touched by the 
present bed of the stream. Its great width corresponds to the width of 
the river valley from level to level, as cut through by the river in its 
new channel. In most of its course it is wider than the present valley 
of the stream. 

At Detroit the rock surface is 130 feet below the city, and at Toledo 
140 feet. The Vermilion and other streams entering the lake, exhibit the 
same phenomena as the Cuyahoga, thus showing that the surface-level 
of the lake must once have been at least 100 feet lower than now. 

The Mississippi, Ohio and other great streams follow the old glacial 
channels, and run over troughs, the rock bottoms of which in some places 
never have been reached. 

Significant at this time, in view of the active interest in a ship canal 
connecting the Great Lakes with the ocean and which would make Cleve¬ 
land a seaport as well as a lakeport city, is the statement of State Geologist 
Newberry, made in his report to Governor Hayes in 1871 : 

“The importance of a knowledge of these old channels in the improve¬ 
ment of the navigation of our larger rivers and lakes is obvious. If it is 
true that our Great Lakes can be connected with each other and with 
the ocean by ship canals, in making which no elevated summits nor rock 
barriers need be cut through, the future commerce created by the great 
population and immense resources of the basin of the Great Lakes may 
require their construction.” 

Cuyahoga County has furnished a number of men, who have con¬ 
tributed much to geological knowledge. We have mentioned Doctor Gould. 
Among those who have contributed largely in geological research and the 
study of paleontology was Doctor Hertzer, who spent the greater part 
of his active life in Berea, teaching geology in Baldwin University, preach¬ 
ing and “fossil hunting,” in which town he died some years ago. His 
work in and about Berea Grit and the limestone formations are as thrill¬ 
ing in the telling as that of Hugh Miller in the Old Red Sandstone. 
One discovery of his, a remarkable fossil, has been named: “Dinichthys 
Hertzeri” (Hertzer’s Terrible Fish). 

Another paleontologist, Doctor Clark, of the same university, did 
great work along the same lines. Some forty years ago the writer visited 
his studio (if that is the proper name) on the edge of the quarries at 
Berea, in which were displayed a most wonderful array of fossils. After 
making a number of models which he retained, the entire collection was 
sold to Columbia University. Doctor Clark had a commanding per¬ 
sonality, a piercing eye that seemed to omit no detail. It was said that 
in fossil hunting a dozen men would precede him and see nothing, while 
his trained eye would make constant discoveries. 

Geologists prove to us that the last emergence of the continent took 
place slowly and its progress was marked by periods of rest. In these 
periods of rest the terraces, old shore cliffs and lake ridges were formed. 
These ridges are old shore lines. Local and minor terraces were formed 
by constantly deepening streams swinging from side to side in their 
valleys; but all the great and general terraces were formed by the arrest 
in dead water of the materials transported by flowing water. The lake 
ridges mark old shore lines, on a sloping surface, composed of drift 
material. Just such are now being formed around the south end of 
Lake Michigan, and between Cedar Point and Huron, on Lake Erie. 

From their elevation these ridges are well drained, and so, when 
man came, they formed a natural roadway. The Indian trails were along 
these ridges, and, when civilized man came, he found them well adapted 
for road building. The ridge roads through Cuyahoga County are well 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


7 


known. When these natural roadways were formed the water of Lake 
Erie stood 100 feet higher than now. 

Compared to the ages before, the history of the world since history 
was written seems a short period, and indeed it may be so considered. 
To illustrate: We have many men at the age of ninety years in full 
intellectual power, whose memory and understanding was well developed 
at ten years of age, and we have had them in the centuries behind us. 



Stone showing footprints of animals as it 
appears today. This stone was quarried from 
under several feet of earth and rock and was 
placed in this wall in 1854, Independence Town¬ 
ship. 


Therefore, in the lives of two such men, personal recollections of the 
signing of the Declaration of Independence, the winter at Valley Forge 
and the surrender at Yorktown, or the campaigns of Napoleon, Waterloo, 
and his imprisonment at St. Helena, could come down to us from mouth 
to mouth. 

Within the lives of three, personal recollections of Shakespeare, how 
he held horses as a boy at the theatre doors in London, could come to 
us as tradition. 

Within the lives of fourteen or fifteen such men, we could listen 
to a graphic account of the campaigns of Charlemagne coming to us in 
the same way. 



8 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


And in the lives of twenty-six or less, we could hear the story of 
the crucifixion of Jesus, coming to us by word of mouth from one who 
witnessed the Last Supper, attended the trial before Pilate and saw the 
cross borne to the place of execution, and raised into the sunlight on 
Calvary. 

Geologists usually estimate by periods or epochs or ages. Occasion¬ 
ally they get down to years. Prof. G. Frederick Wright gave us the 
age of Lake Erie and Niagara Falls in years. He says the reason that 
Lake Erie has not been filled up by the material washed into it is because 
it is a young lake, comparatively speaking. Estimating the amount of 
silt carried into the lake, he took, as an example, Plum Creek, which 
flows into the lake near Oberlin. This insignificant stream has carried 
into the lake some 633,600,000 cubic feet from its trough. Then by 
some method he estimated the amount carried into the lake each year, 
thus giving the age of the lake as 11,000 years. Another proof 
is given in estimating the close of the glacial period. The length of 
the gorge at Niagara Falls is about seven miles. Comparing recent 
surveys by the United States Government with one made by New York 
geologists in 1840, the rate of recession of Niagara Falls is found to be 
about three feet per year. This problem, worked out, would give about 
the same result as the other and would .show the age of the lake and 
the falls to be 10,000 or 12,000 years of age—quite a young lake, 
geologically speaking. 

In the fitting of this territory for human occupation there was a time 
when the ocean reached to Iowa and the Great Lakes to the upper 
Missouri, a tropical climate prevailing over the lake region, Greenland 
and Alaska as warm as Southern Ohio now, palms growing as far north 
as Lake Superior and then, as the waters receded, herds of gigantic mam¬ 
mals, the elephant, rhinoceros, the mastodon, and of the carniverous 
species, great cats and their corresponding prey, all ranging over a fertile 
and beautiful surface. 

Most of these are now extinct, but the evidence of their existence is 
unquestioned. 

In Independence Township in 1854 a stone was quarried from the 
rock known as Berea Grit, a fine workable sandstone, upon which are 
remarkable footprints of some animal and the track of a reptile. The 
footprints may be those of the caribou. The rock was found under several 
feet of “stripping,” earth and loose rocks, and is preserved in a curious 
way. Rev. B. F. Sharp, pastor, and William Bushnell, deacon, of the 
Presbyterian Church, which was completed and dedicated that year, a 
brick structure which is now standing a short distance from the main 
thoroughfare which passes through the present Village of Independence, 
put the stone in the rear wall. It faces outward and westward. The 
storms of nearly seventy years have worn it, but the impressions remain 
quite distinct. Mr. Orth, in his excellent history of Cleveland, refers 
to them as carvings, which they undoubtedly are, but as archaeologists 
have discovered no utensils of pre-historic man except those exceedingly 
crude, and it would require a Michael Angelo to have carved these so 
perfectly, they seem like impressions made in the sand or soft rock before 
it was hardened into our commercial sandstone and covered with drift. 

Multitudes have visited the little church and viewed the footprints 
made so many ages back and brought to light for our inspection. 


CHAPTER II 


THE VANISHED EMPIRE 

Of the peoples who inhabited this region before the Red Man, we 
have little tradition and no history. They have left monuments of earth, 
centuries old, crude utensils, articles denoting in some instances artistic 
ability, but no inscriptions. The sculptural art displayed in articles taken 
from these mounds has not been surpassed by any people in the stone-age 
period of its existence. Animal and bird forms attract attention and 
compel admiration, but they did not understand “the magic of the written 
word.” Their monuments are scattered over a broad area. Their bones 
defying the ages have been brought to light by civilized man for study 
and reflection. They were the Mound Builders. 

Just as we gather facts and array circumstances to be used as evi¬ 
dence in court, patiently, throughout the years, archaeologists have studied 
the monuments left by this vanished empire. There have been differences 
of opinion. There have been theories advanced and exploded, but, as 
in court, we decide from all the evidence and so arrive at our conclusions, 
in this court of inquiry there are some general facts proved. As the 
investigation is still in progress much may yet be learned. 

The settlers of this county, as in the state, bought or were given title 
to their land before they moved into the wilderness. Their title came 
from the Connecticut Land Company, in the main, but the encumbrance 
of the Red Man, whose faith they at times had reason to doubt, was a 
menace. The subduing of the wilderness was before them. They had 
little time to engage in archaeological studies. It was not what had 
preceded but what was before them that engaged their attention. The 
mounds of the Vanished Empire were a part of their holdings and thus 
were in private hands. Many mounds have not been examined and ex¬ 
plored to this day because permission of the owner could not be obtained. 
Others have been only partially examined. In the early days much 
superstition was found among the settlers in connection with the presence 
of these ancient mounds. 

Says Warren K. Moorehead in his published report: “I have fre¬ 
quently been warned that no good can come from exploring here,” or 
“you will be haunted by the dead you disturb.” He was told of lights 
that were seen at night, that so and so dug there years ago and heard 
strange noises, that an Indian came and dug by moonlight and was seen 
on a mound as he carried away his treasure. 

Enough has been found to excite to keen speculation and certain 
fixed conclusions. Poets have sung and novelists have portrayed, while 
archaeologists have patiently toiled to gather accurate information. In 
this research there have been some interesting episodes. 

A relic alleged to have been taken from the Grave Creek Mound in 
Ohio in 1838 has been the occasion of much discussion. This consisted 
of a small piece of sandstone covered on one face with a three line inscrip¬ 
tion. It was in the letters of an unknown alphabet. No one at the 
time seemed to doubt its genuineness. It was studied by scholars of 
ancient languages in this and other countries but without result. It 

9 


10 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


appeared to decide the problem and to settle the question that comes to 
all minds in reflecting on the subject: Did the Mound Builders have a 
written language? It was an inscription, that was clear, but it could not 
be deciphered. It remained as one of the mysteries of this mysterious 
people. 

A few years ago M. C. Reed, of Hudson, Ohio, as one of a com¬ 
mittee, appointed for that purpose by the Ohio Historical and Arch¬ 
aeological Society, began an investigation of this find. His report is inter¬ 
esting in many ways but particularly as showing by what processes of 
reasoning trained archaeologists arrive at conclusions. He reported the 
facts to be as follows: 

This stone was picked up from a pile of loose dirt that had been 
wheeled out from the center of the mound through a tunnel and dumped 
on the outside. Naturally it was immediately a great object of interest 
to people who were keen for sensational developments. No one ques¬ 
tioned its genuineness and all assumed that it came from the mound and 


t a /th *nu yx ocvlc i- g a /vv 

2. //\~ v/ t/wja niuif x wc n 

3 . rjcrfi YrtrHIT vav cih lJ 

s. y t y x A 4/ / < j> >< X v/? 4 ^ 


Forged inscriptions used by inves¬ 
tigators to prove that the Grave Creek 
inscription was a forgery. 



Inscription, discovered in 
1838, alleged to have been 
taken from the Grave Creek 
Mound. It was accepted as 
proof that the Mound Builders 
had a written language, but 
linguists could not decipher it. 


was dumped with the other material. No one at that time investigated 
to see whether the markings showed evidence of recent manufacture. 
They swallowed “hook, line, and sinker.” The investigators, headed by 
Mr. Reed, after getting evidence as to the circumstances under which 
the stone was found, employed this deductive method: 

It is very easy to manufacture a series of arbitrary characters, which 
would constitute a good alphabet. It is not so easy to forge an inscrip¬ 
tion with it, as can be found upon trial. In an inscription the letters 
will be duplicated and will be repeated in an inverse ratio to the number 
of characters in the alphabet used. The forger of an inscription will 
proceed very much as if forging an alphabet, and it will rarely occur 
to him to double, as will be shown, or repeat his characters. In a forged 
alphabet, also, a genetic relation will be found between letters and those 
immediately preceding the one being a modification of the other. In 
using the same letters in an intelligible inscription this connection will 
not be broken. 

In this investigation four different persons were asked to write each 
an inscription in arbitrary characters, unlike the letters of any alphabet 
that they knew, and without being informed as to the purpose of the 





THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


11 


request. These four, a teacher and law student, a school girl, a druggist, 
and a college professor, complied with the request. By this mode of 
procedure and the results obtained the forgery of the Grave Creek inscrip¬ 
tion will appear to the student observer to be self evident. 

In publishing the inscription under discussion and also those of the 
four persons selected in connection with it the similarity can be observed. 
In the second cut the Grave Creek inscription is at the bottom and 
includes all except the last two characters. 

“As the investigation now stands,” says Mr. Reed in his report, in¬ 
cluded in his interesting book on Ohio archaeology, published by the 
Western Reserve Historical Society, “there is no evidence that the 
Mound Builders knew or practiced the art of writing.” 

Mr. Reed in this book also treats of another interesting “find,” which 
had attracted even more attention than the Grave Creek inscription. This 
seemed to prove not only that the Mound Builders had a written language, 
but that they were of Hebrew descent. 

For some time it was stoutly maintained in many quarters that the 
ancient peoples of America were “The Lost Tribes of Israel.” The book 
of Mormon traces the Israelites of ancient times here and its followers 
have connected them quite specifically with the Mound Builders. This 
book treats of the ancient people of America as a divine history. M. S. 
Hinman of Cleveland published a book some years ago to prove from 
prophecy that there was a Hebrew migration to America, that this country 
was the Promised Land mentioned in the Scriptures. Mr. Hinman 
will be remembered as journal clerk of the courts for many years, in 
which position he made an enviable record. He delivered a number of 
lectures throughout the country on this his favorite topic. Mr. Hinman 
did not attempt to connect the Israelites directly with the Mount Builders, 
but others have attempted to do so, including the followers of Mormon. I 
have digressed so far to show the interest attached to this subject as it 
applies to this people who occupied Cuyahoga County before the Indian. 

One advocate of this theory of an Israelite migration to this country 
in the early ages was one David Wyrick, who one day went excitedly 
through the streets of Newark, Ohio, carrying an inscribed tablet, which 
he exhibited as a wonderful relic from a mound near that town. This 
find was accepted for years as genuine and sold for a price. A thorough 
investigation was made in this connection as reported upon by Mr. Reed. 
This gives us some interesting facts. 

Mr. Wyrick’s discovery came to light at a time when evidence was 
much sought after to connect the aboriginal races with the House of Israel. 
The first find was an inscribed keystone in the form of a Masonic emblem, 
on which was carved in Hebrew of the twelfth century: “The King 
of the Earth”—“The Word of the Lord”—“The Laws of Jehovah”— 
“The Holy of Holies.” In the year following he “found,” enclosed in a 
stone box, a stone tablet having on it an effigy of Moses, in priestly 
robes, and an epitome of the ten commandments in Hebrew. This could 
certainly be taken as conclusive evidence of a Hebrew migration to this 
country. 

Mr. Wyrick was known as somewhat eccentric but of scholarly attain¬ 
ments. The investigators observed that Mr. Wyrick’s published account 
of these remarkable relics was largely devoted to an attempt to prove 
that they could not have been forged, and that upon his death there was 
found in his working room a Hebrew Bible, which could have aided 
him much in finding Hebrew inscriptions. 

These holy relics were sold to David M. Johnson of Coshocton, Ohio, 
who, in 1867, employed laborers for several days in exploring a mound 


12 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


from which one of the inscribed stones was said to have been taken by 
Mr. Wyrick. This search brought to light a small stone, found in a 
human skull, on which was a Hebrew inscription. 

Mr. Reed, in closing his report of this investigation, says: “No arch¬ 
aeologist of fair standing today can be found to advocate the genuineness 
of this last inscription or that of the Wyrick ‘finds.’ ” 

As an archaeological study, the same investigation was made in regard 
to the Book of Mormon, which assumed to be a record of ancient people 
in America, written on golden plates, abridged by the prophet Mormon, 
and discovered by Joseph Smith at Cumorah (Western New York) and 
translated by him. 

By anti-Mormons this book is regarded as taken from a romance, 
written in 1811 by Solomon Spaulding, whose manuscript was used by 
Smith and Rigden. After investigation, Mr. Reed refers to the Book 
of Mormon as the “greatest forgery of the century.” Says it was written 
soon after the controversy between Masonry and anti-Masonry was at its 
height and is decidedly anti-Masonic. It was written during or very 
soon after the controversy over pedo-baptism, the salvation of infants, 
a paid priesthood, election and free will was raging, all of which ques¬ 
tions it attempts to settle. It was written while the native races here 
were believed to be Israelites and worshippers of the Great Spirit, and 
while it was popularly believed that the linguistic peculiarities of our 
Bible were wholly characteristic of the language in which it was originally 
written and not of the English language at the time of its translation. 

Mr. Reed therefore fixes the date as inconsistent with the facts 
claimed by Joseph Smith. 

All of these episodes show the interest attached to this vanished 
people and the striving to obtain reliable information about them. 

Of this ancient people, whose empire was co-extensive with a great 
part of the Mississippi Valley, Ohio seems to have been the nucleus and 
Cuyahoga County close to the scene of their final extermination. Ten 
thousand mounds have been located in Ohio and many explored. Some 
are extensive. Fort Ancient in Warren County, now the property of the 
state, but in charge of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society, 
has a total length of walls of over ten miles with seventy gateways, and 
within its enclosures more than 35,000 people could have been harbored 
at one time. 

In 1890 Warren K. Moorehead published a volume descriptive of 
this remarkable monument left by this ancient people. This location has 
been mentioned as the capitol of this ancient empire, and here, as has 
been said, some of the great battles of the world may have been fought, 
though not recorded in history. 

Naturally there is much speculation from those who have given but 
slight study to the subject and much catching at straws to sustain adopted 
theories but since 1875, when the Archaeological Society was formed at 
the home of General Brinkerhofif at Mansfield, Ohio, extensive and sys¬ 
tematic work has been done. Indeed, C. C. Baldwin, at one time president 
of the Western Reserve Historical Society, made this statement: 

“As years have flown and knowledge from many investigators is 
added up, it is time that archaeology shall begin to be a certain science.” 

We know from all the evidence revealed, disclosing the rude attempts 
of this primitive man to provide for his ever-increasing wants, some 
uncontroverted facts. The extensive prehistoric copper mines of Lake 
Superior, described by Colonel Whittlesey, are works of the Mound 
Builders, and the source from which they obtained the greater part of 
the material for their copper implements and ornaments, some however 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


13 


obtained from the Drift. These mines were opened by means of rude 
tools, wooden shovels being used to remove waste material. The rock 
enclosing the copper was subjected to fire and broken up by stone hammers 
and mauls. Pieces from the mass too large to handle were with much 
labor cut or pounded off with their stone axes, and pieces too large to 
be handled in any other way were slowly raised to the surface by prying 
the alternate sides, placing small timbers beneath, and building them up 
under the load in the form of a log house. The copper thus obtained 
was sometimes worked up into implements in the neighborhood of the 
mines, as important finds in that neighborhood show. Colonel Whittlesey 
collected nearly a thousand copper relics in Ohio and nearly all taken 
from the mounds. There were so few elsewhere that it is assumed that 
the manufacture of copper implements was confined to the Mound 
Builders. 

They used it as a malleable stone only, without melting or casting, 
but hammered it into the desired form. This mode of working it devel¬ 
oped a quality which has puzzled many students of archaeology. It gives 
to the metal a hardness which it never attains under the present mode 
of working with modern methods, except by alloy with other metals. 

The great abundance of mica found in the mounds shows that the 
builders made long journeys to engage in mica mining or that they 
maintained a system of traffic with those who worked the mines. This 
mineral was held in high esteem and was obtained in large quantities. 
Skeletons have been exhumed entirely covered with it. 

Masses of galena have been found in Ohio mines too large to have 
been obtained in the state, and which were the product of galena mining. 
Lead is so easily obtained from the galena that it would be simple for 
these people to discover a method of reducing it, but it would have been 
of little use to them. After the advent of powder guns, this metal was 
much used by the Indians. 

The Mound Builders manufactured salt from natural brine springs. 

In the oil territory of Trumbull County are prehistoric wells, which 
were sunk for petroleum. It does not appear in evidence whether these 
were the work of the Mound Builders or the more recent Indians, who, 
it is known, used this product as a medicine and prized it highly. 

The Mound Builders had no metal tools of size or character, no 
beasts of burden or draft, and yet they builded. Hoes they had, but 
made of large shells with wooden handles. They carried in baskets 
the earth for the great system of earthworks referred to, some of which 
are of immense volume. 

Unlike the savages, who were here when the white man came, they 
had fixed habitations. They built for defense as did the cliff-dwellers 
of the Southwest. They were an agricultural people. Their circular 
mounds were the walls of villages. They had a system of wide expanse. 
They formed an empire of people of a milder type than the Red Man, 
who swept over the country from no one knows where, driving to war 
and finally to extermination. Some writers have endeavored to connect 
them with the modern Indian as identical people, but an Indian village 
presents a very poor picture of prehistoric times, as we can conceive 
of those times from an investigation of the evidence left to us. 

A multitude of books have been written of these vanished people, 
including a novel entitled “The Vanished Empire,” which lacks the thrill 
of “The Last Days of Pompeii,” and though in our libraries, is little 
read. Many of these books are merely speculative, while others adhere 
to close investigation and offer few conclusions. 

There is a glamour that envelopes us as we study of these early inhabi- 


14 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


tants that appeals to the poetic sentiment. Bryant’s lines, in the great 
poet’s best style, give expression to thoughts that will arise, as we look 
back toward that dim period from the world of today: 

As o’er the verdant waste I guide my steed 

Among the high rank grass that sweeps his side 
The hollow beating of his footsteps seems 
A sacrilegious sound. I think of those 
Upon whose rest he tramples. Are they here 
The dead of other days?—and did the dust 
Of these fair solitudes once stir with life 

And burn with passion? Let the mighty mounds, 

That overlook the rivers, or that rise 

In the dim forest crowded with old oaks, 

Answer. A race, that long has passed away, 

Built them; a disciplined and populous race 
Heaped with long toil the earth, while yet the Greek 
Was hewing the Pentelicus to forms 
Of symmetry, and rearing on its rock 

The glittering Parthenon. These ample fields 
Nourished their harvests, here their herds were fed, 

When haply by their stalls the bison lowed, 

And bowed his maned shoulder to the yoke. 

All day this region murmured with their toils 
Till twilight blushed, and lovers walked and wooed 
In a forgotten language, and old tunes, 

From instruments of unremembered form, 

Gave the soft winds a voice. The Red Man came 
The roaming hunter tribes, warlike and fierce, 

And the mound builders vanished from the earth. 

The solitude of centuries untold 

Has settled where they dwelt. The prairie wolf 
Hunts in their meadows, and his fresh dug den 

Yawns by my path. The gopher mines the ground 
Where stood their smiling cities. All is gone 

All—save the piles of earth that hold their bones, 

The platforms, where they worshipped unknown gods, 

The barriers, which they builded from the soil 
To keep the foe at bay—till o’er the walls 

The wild beleaguers broke, and, one by one 
The strongholds of the plain were forced 
And heaped with corpses. 

This picture implies that these people had advanced to a higher degree 
in human progress than investigation seems to warrant but it was written 
while systematic study of their remains had not progressed into the form¬ 
ing of fixed conclusions. 

In the world’s history, successive waves of population have swept 
away others, from time to time, either by destruction or assimilation or a 
combination of both methods. 

Perhaps no finer picture of the assimilation of a people after war had 
done its work has been given than the following from The Prairie, by 
Bryant, from which production the preceding picture was also taken: 

Haply some solitary fugitive 

Lurking in marsh or forest, till the sense 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


15 


Of desolation and of fear became 

Bitterer than death, yielded himself to die. 

Man’s better nature triumphed then. Kind words 

Welcomed and soothed him; the rude conquerors 
Seated the captives with their chiefs; he chose 
A bride among their maidens, and at length 
Seemed to forget—yet ne’er forgot—the wife 
Of his first love, and her sweet little ones, 

Butchered, amid their shrieks, with all his race. 

Thus change the forms of being. 

In Cuyahoga County a number of the mounds of the Vanished Empire 
have been found, many of which have been designated as earth forts. Some 
years ago Col. Charles Whittlesey published a book on the earth works 
of the Cuyahoga Valley, but most of those in and near Cleveland have been 
destroyed. One at the corner of East Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue, 
Cleveland, now graded away, was explored in 1820 by Dr. T. Garloch 
and interesting relics taken out, consisting of copper and stone imple¬ 
ments, fragments of pottery, copper and shell beads and other articles. 
Another mound was on Sawtell Avenue. From a mound in Chagrin 
Falls twelve skeletons were taken out. There are mounds in Independence, 
Dover, Orange, Newburgh, Euclid and other parts of the Cuyahoga 
Valley. 

There is a mound in Brecksville, in the valley of the Chippewa Creek, 
which has many evidences of being man made. Below it and on every 
side is a rich bottom land, such as the Mound Builders selected for sites. 
This mound is located on the lands of the Glen Valley Club and is now 
covered with trees. It is composed almost wholly of dirt, there being an 
absence of rock, the presence of which might account for the formation 
by the natural erosion of the valley by the stream. Some years ago 
President King of Oberlin College visited this mound and expressed the 
opinion that it was of artificial formation. As it has not been listed in the 
books on Ohio archaeology we give a picture as it appears today. 

“Nothing can be more plain,” says one writer, who has given much 
study to the subject, “than that most of the mounds in Northern Ohio, 
particularly those on the Cuyahoga River, are military works.” 

These mounds, designated as military, form a line, a complete cordon 
from Conneaut to Toledo, and in the opinion of investigators, palisades 
were planted upon them. This gives evidence not only of the purpose 
of their construction but of the fact that they were built by a people 
composed not of scattered tribes but of a far-flung dominion. They give 
evidence of intelligent direction and of a large plan and scope, similar to 
the Hindenberg line of the World war. 

It is not unreasonable to assume that these forts were built to protect 
from the advance of a foe landing from the lake and moving south for 
conquest, or they were a line of resistance for a people inhabiting these 
shores and pressed upon by their southern neighbors. 

It has long been a cherished opinion of the writer that the Eries, of 
whose existence we know only by tradition, were in fact the Mound 
Builders. From the annals of the early French missionaries we learn 
that a tribe, known as the Eries, owned and occupied the southern shore 
of the lake which derived its name from them. The word Erie means 
cat and is said to have been applied to them because wild cats were so 
numerous in this section. These animals must have been endowed with 
the proverbial nine lives, like the felines of civilized times, for when the 
settlers came they were numerous, while the race of men, who took their 
name had long been extinct. 


16 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


In 1845, the Buffalo Commercial, of Buffalo, published an interview 
with Blacksnake, a Seneca chief, who lived on a reservation near that 
city. Blacksnake in a long and detailed story related the destruction of 
the Eries by the Five Nations, called by the French the Iriquois Nation. 
This story was colored, no doubt, to glorify the nation of which Black¬ 
snake was a descendant. After his account had been corroborated by 
other chiefs, it was published and has since found a place in local histories. 

If the whole story could he correctly told, might it not, from all the 
evidence we have, read like this: 

The Mound Builders occupied, forming a great empire of busy people, 
having in Ohio alone hundreds of villages, this county a part of a vast 
empire of the paleolithic age. Centuries elapsed, the Red Man came, a 
virile warrior savage, and began the destruction of this people. The 
struggle finally resolved itself into a survival of the strongest, bravest 
and most resourceful. Pressed upon all sides and thinned by conquest 
the great empire became one great tribe, that had learned the arts of war. 
The Red Man, the roamer, with no fixed habitation, had learned from 
his contact with them, in their best estate, the advantage of united action, 
and so was formed the confederation of the five tribes, the Senecas, the 
Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas and the Cayugas, called by the 
French the Iroquois, against this tribe, now known as the Eries, which they 
destroyed. 

We can employ poetic if not historic license to assume that the destruc¬ 
tion of the Eries, which Blacksnake so graphically described, was a 
portrayal of the last stand of the empire, whose remains are still in 
evidence all about us. And more, they have left a name to our lake, to a 
city east of us, and a county west of us. 

In interesting relation to the attempt to establish the identity of the 
Mound Builders is a tradition of the Delaware Indians about a people, 
who made strong fortifications of earth, and defended them with great 
bravery. A tradition current among the Sioux Indians, who once occupied 
this territory, but were driven westward by the Chippewas, gives a con¬ 
trary opinion of the character of these people. They say that in going 
westward they came to a race of people, who lived in mounds which 
they piled up. These people were large and strong but cowardly. To 
use their expression, “if they had been as brave as they were big, between 
them and the Chippewas we would have been destroyed, but they were 
great cowards and we easily drove them away.” 

Cuyahoga County, then, was peopled first by the Glacial man, who 
hunted the caribou and the mammoth and left crude evidences of his 
occupation, to be followed by the Mound Builders, those human ants, 
whose works excite our wonder and whose handicraft arouses ouir 
admiration. 

Then came the Indian 

With looks like patient Job’s eschewing evil, 

With motions graceful as a bird in air, 

And yet, withal, the veriest devil 

That e’er clinched fingers in a captive’s hair. 


The Settler came, the sturdy pioneer, who built the first fires of 
civilization, attacked the forest, harnessed the streams to labor and 
aroused the soil to productive activity, established law and order as the 
first essential of prosperity, and taught the dignity of labor, and practiced 
what he preached. 


CHAPTER III 


THE CUYAHOGA RIVER 

This historic stream, that rises in a sugar bush in Geauga County, 
north of its mouth, and, in its northern course divides the County of 
Cuyahoga into nearly equal parts, embodies in its history much of 
interest. In a history of the county which bears the same name it plays 
a leading role. Not a hundred miles in length, it winds its tortuous 
course in an apparent effort to make as much of the distance as possible. 

An old authority says the Indians called it Cuyahoga Uk, meaning 
in our language Lake River. The generally accepted interpretation is 
that the Indian name, Cuyahoga, means Crooked River. Here is a 
little bit of Caleb Atwater’s description of the river: “Rising in Geauga 
County on the summit, it proceeds along on the second level above the 
Erie in doubt whether to unite its waves with the Mississippi or the 
St. Lawrence, until it wends its way cautiously along across Portage 
County to the falls, which are about thirty miles, in a direct line, from 
the lake, where, having determined which way to go, it leaps exultingly 
from rock to rock 125 feet in one mile, pouring along its channel, even 
in a dry time, 5,000 cubic feet of water in a minute, creating the 
very best water power in the state in so short a distance. These are 
the Cuyahoga Falls. Turning abruptly here the Cuyahoga runs eagerly 
and rapidly to join Lake Erie, falling on an average of eleven feet 
in a mile.” 

The rich bottom lands along the course of the Cuyahoga are very 
productive and in the early days, before the presence of a great city 
at its mouth dyed its waters, the stream abounded in fish, which were 
a great factor in the food supply. We need not go back to the days 
when the dusky Chippewas occupied its banks for this fact. In quite 
recent years, the mullet, redhorse, bass, catfish, bullhead, sturgeon, shad 
and other varieties were caught in great numbers. Sturgeon, five, six 
and seven feet in length, were often the prey of fishermen. 

Wild game was attracted to the river banks, sometimes in great 
numbers, and then the river valley became valuable hunting grounds. 
Because of the forests and with it the leaves in the summer and the 
slow melting of snow, the lack of ditches and tile drainage, accompaniment 
of civilization, the flow of water in the river was more regular through¬ 
out the year than it is now. Floods did not rise to such proportions 
and navigation was not impeded by the low water of the dry season, as 
in later years. 

Before the advent of railroads and canals, rivers were a greater factor 
in the development of a new country. In the days when the Northwest 
Territory was established, flat boats were much used on them for the 
transportation of freight of size and quantity. The light canoe of the 
Indian and the row boat of the white man represented the rapid transit, 
that skimmed their currents. 

There was one serious drawback, which the settlers found when they 
began the work of establishing a civilization. Disease lurked along the 
river. Fever and ague, typhus fever and similar diseases were prevalent 

17 




























THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


19 


along its banks. The health, that makes for happiness, attracted many 
to the higher elevations. Around the mouth of the Cuyahoga malarial 
swamps covered a large area. 

As an instance illustrative of this attitude and also of the value of 
real estate in and about Cleveland, Col. John Coates, father of the 
writer, was once offered a tract of land in Cleveland, known later as 
Stone’s Flats, in the valley of the Cuyahoga, in exchange for an old 
mare and colt, which he refused, preferring the hills of Brecksville and 
Royalton. 

The Cuyahoga was first crossed by ford and ferry, then by wooden 
bridges, later by iron structures, and finally by stone and concrete via¬ 
ducts that span the valley as well. The Superior Street viaduct, when 
built in 1878, at a cost of $2,225,000, was regarded as a wonder and 
its construction as one of the great engineering feats of the world. It 
is still used, but the later structure of steel and concrete, by its side, 
rising above the masts of lake vessels, that enter the harbor and pass 
up the river, with its lower decks for street and suburban cars and its 
upper driveway a broad boulevard, has cast it in the background. 

For a clear understanding of the changes of title and authority 
on each side of the Cuyahoga River a reference to the several maps 
may be of interest in this connection. The contest between the French 
and British for supremacy throughout the great West is a matter of 
history. It was long and bitter. Each treated the Indians as tenants 
on their domain and used them as allies from time to time. In 1763 
the French signed a treaty at Paris ceding all territory between the Alle- 
ghanies and the Mississippi to England, Indians not consulted. Immedi¬ 
ately all of this territory was declared, by royal proclamation of England, 
Indian domain. 

After the Revolutionary war, the British refused to give possession 
of the country west of the Cuyahoga River and they occupied the west 
bank until 1790. Through the efforts of Hamilton they finally relin¬ 
quished official claim to this territory, but when the party of Moses 
Cleveland arrived at the mouth of the river in 1796 their traders had 
a house in what was later Ohio City, north of Detroit road near the river. 

Ten years before, in 1786, the Moravian missionary Zeisberger, with 
a number of Indian converts left Detroit and arrived at the mouth of 
the Cuyahoga in a vessel called the Mackinaw. From thence they pro¬ 
ceeded up the river about ten miles and settled in an abandoned Indian 
village, in the present Township of Independence. This settlement they 
called Pilgerruh (Pilgrims’ Rest). This would now seem an inappro¬ 
priate title as in a year they left for some other location in the wilds. 

It has been said that Ohio’s rise from the position of a pioneer and 
backwoods state to one of power and prestige will be found, by final 
analysis to be predicated, in the main, on law. When Governor St. Clair 
came to the Northwest Territory, whose dominion, by the way, included 
all the land now in the states of Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin 
and Minnesota, appointed under the provisions of the famous ordinance 
of 1787, his first act was to establish a county that should operate under 
all the forms of law and in strict conformity therewith. 

Washington County was formed or erected, as that was the term 
then used, and courts were established. This was in 1788. This county 
covered about half of the present area of Ohio, and represented much 
of the territory in which, by definite treaties, title had been obtained 
from the Indians. By reference to the map the reader will notice that 
the Cuyahoga River was a boundary, the Indian country on its west 
bank and Washington County on its east bank. 




















































































































































































































THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


21 


The county seat of this new, first county, was Marietta and it was 
named after Washington, the first president of the United States, then 
in office. The arms of the law were widely extended. This shows by 
what wise forethought the fathers extended over the new territory the 
protecting power of the law even in sparsely populated and desolate 
regions, prohibiting a resort to other and less approved methods of 
settling their differences. 

In 1796, Wayne County was erected by proclamation of the Gov¬ 
ernor. Hamilton County had been erected a year later than Washing¬ 
ton, and its boundaries, later, extended north as far as Lake Huron. 
Wayne County included all of the southern peninsula of the present 



Map Showing Development of Counties 

state of Michigan and extended from the Cuyahoga River west as far 
as the present west line of Ohio, as you will see by reference to the 
map. In the recorded description of the boundaries of this county, note 
its first words: “Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.” 

When this action had been consummated, the Cuyahoga (crooked 
river) was pursuing its winding course with Wayne County on its 
west bank and Washington County on its east bank. Marietta was still 
the county seat of Washington and Detroit was the county seat of Wayne. 

Into this region now, 1796, with such protection as the erected counties 
might afford, comes Moses Cleveland and his surveying party, commis¬ 
sioned by the Connecticut Land Company, and landed at the mouth of 
the Cuyahoga River. Of his work and character and prophetic vision, we 
will narrate later. 

The next year, Jefferson County was erected, taking from the county 
of Washington and extending to Lake Erie and west to the Cuyahoga 
River. Again we ask the reader to glance at the map by way of fixing 
clearly in mind the boundaries. 

Now, this politically embattled stream divided the counties of Wayne 
and Jefferson, Wayne on the west bank and Jefferson on the east bank, 



















22 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


with Detroit as the county seat of Wayne, and with Steubenville as the 
county seat of Jefferson. 

In 1800, Trumbull County was erected to include all of the Con¬ 
necticut Western Reserve, and this comprised all of the territory now 
included in the counties of Cuyahoga, Lorain, Jefferson, Huron, Summit, 
Lake, Trumbull, Medina, Erie, Portage, Sandusky and Mahoning. When 
this new county was organized, the Cuyahoga River ceased to be a boun¬ 
dary line, but, in the same channel, with Trumbull County to the east 
of it and Trumbull County to the west of it, it found its way to the 
lake. Warren was the county seat of the new county. 

In the same year, 1800, the following townships were erected in this 
county: Cleveland, Richfield, Painesville, Vernon, Middlefield, Youngs¬ 
town, Hudson and Warren. Cleveland, one of the smallest of the group 
of townships, had the distinction of having a city surveyed within its boun- 



Cuyahoga River Scene 

daries, and had the further distinction of being created before the State 
of Ohio and before the County of Cuyahoga, was created. 

At this stage in the history of the Cuyahoga River, the State of 
Ohio was born. It was formed from the Northwest Territory. Its 
constitution was adopted in 1802 but not until the following year did 
Congress pass the necessary act for the execution of its laws as a state. 
In 1803 its first legislative session was held. It met March 1st, and 
adjourned April 16th. The Senate chose Daniel Massie, speaker; William 
C. Schenk, clerk, and Edward Sherlock, doorkeeper. The House of 
Representatives chose Michael Baldwin, speaker; William R. Dicken¬ 
son, clerk, and Adam Betz, doorkeeper. 

This session of the Legislature was held at Chillicothe and in joint 
session of both branches the vote for governor was canvassed and Edward 
Tiffin declared to be elected governor. The canvass of the vote disclosed 
4,564 for Tiffin. There were no votes cast against him. He immediately 
took the oath of office and delivered his inaugural address, which was 
copied in the journal, occupying but twenty lines. At this session there 
was no legislation affecting the territory with which this history spe¬ 
cifically deals. 

In 1805, the Legislature passed an act erecting the County of Geauga 



THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


23 


from Trumbull, ihe description of the new county thus formed reads, 
in part, as follows: “That all that part of Trumbull County lying north 
and east of the line, beginning in the east line of said county, between 
townships number eight and nine, west to west line of range five, to the 
middle of the Cuyahoga River, where the course of the same is northerly, 
thence up the middle of the river to the intersection of township number 
four, thence west on north line of township to the west line of range 
fourteen, wherever that shall be when the county west of the Cuyahoga 
River shall be surveyed into townships, thence north to Lake Erie, shall 
constitute the County of Geauga.” 

Geauga or Sheauga signifies, in the Indian language, raccoon. This 
county, as formed in 1805, extended westward to the western limits of 
the Reserve. 

The Cuyahoga River, therefore, for several years divided the County 
of Geauga. It was Geauga on the east side and Geauga on the west 
side. Chardon was the county seat. 

By act of the Legislature of January 16, 1810, the County of Cuya¬ 
hoga was formed and in May of the same year organized. I find 
in local histories 1807 fixed as the date of the legislation establishing 
this county but the records do not so show. At any rate there is no 
differences as to the date of organization. The boundaries of the county 
then established were not the present boundaries. It extended west to 
the limit of the Western Reserve. It included the present County of 
Huron on the extreme west, which had then been formed by legis¬ 
lative enactment but had not been organized. Huron County comprises 
the “Fire Lands,” so called. This territory was not sold, the farms were 
given to those who lost their homes by fire in the Revolutionary war. 
Huron County as originally formed comprised all of the Fire Lands. 

In the evolution of the counties since Cuyahoga was first established, 
due to the rapidly increasing population, there have been many changes 
but none have affected the political environment of the river. The county 
has by successive legislative enactments been brought to its present area. 
Cleveland has at all times been the county seat. 

The terms, East Side and West Side, are familiar to all residents of 
Cleveland. There has been rivalry and even a brush of war between 
the two sections. At one time Ohio City on the West Side rivaled Cleve¬ 
land on the East Side. While these divided interests are now lost in 
the larger development of the city and county, the terms remain. 

It is of historical interest, therefore, to outline the political changes 
of the East Side and the West Side in sequence. In Rome we muse 
upon the history of that famous city because so much of Old Rome 
remains to lead the mind back to the famous scenes and characters of 
former times, may we not without these evidences so potent be inter¬ 
ested in a backward glance of at least 150 years. 


West Side 
Indian Country 
French Domain 
English Domain 
Wayne County 
Trumbull County 
Geauga County 
Cuyahoga County 

In locating Cleveland at the mouth 
Cleveland had apparently in mind that 
the Connecticut Western Reserve, and 
vision has become a reality. 

The Cuyahoga River holds a central 


East Side 
Indian Country 
French Domain 
Washington County 
Trumbull County 
Jefferson County 
Geauga County 
Cuyahoga County 
of the Cuyahoga River Moses 
he was founding the capital of 
that is just what he did. His 

and unique place in our history. 


CHAPTER IV 


THE COUNTY AND ITS TOWNSHIPS 

This title could with equal accuracy be reversed to read: The Town¬ 
ships and Their County. This system of local government ordained 
that the county and the townships should be one in interest, in operation, 
and in reality. The townships were the woof and the county the warp 
of that complete system of local government, projected over a vast 
territory in advance of its actual occupation by future inhabitants. It 
is a standing tribute to the wisdom of the men, such men, as those who 
wrote the Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, 
The Constitution of the United States, The Ordinance of 1787, and the 
Constitution of Ohio. It is a system of local government unsurpassed 
in the practical operation of the building up of a new country, and its 
development, under all the forms of law and maintenance of order. 

In New England, the township, usually called the town, had more 
authority, amounting nearly to independent local self government. By 
the form of local government adopted in Ohio and throughout the 
Northwest Territory, as formed into sovereign states, the union between 
county and townships was very close and the authority equitably divided. 

The township, in its original capacity, was invested with political 
and administrative powers for regulating its own minor local affairs 
such as laying out and repairing roads, maintaining schools, providing 
for the poor, etc. Being invested with corporate powers, it can make 
contracts and enter into agreements that are binding in law. The 
county, being in effect an organization of the townships for political and 
administrative purposes, is a political unit next below the state. 

Thus in New England the township is the political unit. In the states 
of the South the county is the political unit. In the Middle and Western 
states we have the mixed organization of county and township. 

We have said that the township in its original capacity had certain 
powers. As the population increased and cities and villages were formed 
and expanded, taking from the territory of the township, and, finally, 
taking all of its territory, the township remained but stripped of most 
of its authority. Such could be called judicial townships. The subdi¬ 
visions of counties in California are called judicial townships. 

For many years after the township of Cleveland had been swallowed 
up by the great city, the township remained. Its boundaries were as 
before but it ceased to function except as a judicial township. Up to 
the time of the establishing of the Municipal Court, January 1, 1912, 
justices of the peace were regularly elected and commissioned as justices 
of Cleveland Township, and were invested with the same jurisdiction 
as to territory and authority as justices in other townships, operating 
as originally organized. 

By the establishment of this court, the necessity for the justice courts 
in the Township of Cleveland was taken away, as the Legislature endowed 
this court with all the jurisdiction of the justice courts in connection 
with more extended powers. By this enactment, the justice courts were 
abolished and the Township of Cleveland ceased to exist. 

24 



THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


25 


Thus, in the larger development of this county, the advent of automo¬ 
biles, suburban electric lines, bus lines, and before all, the steam lines, 
with their enormous transportation facilities, coupled with the marvelous 
advance in farm machinery, the establishment of cities and villages within 
the county, their rapid growth, the township, that center of pioneer 
life and conservator of its peace, is passing. 

The original townships of Cuyahoga County were: Bedford, Brecks- 
ville, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Dover, Euclid, Independence, Mayfield, Mid- 
dleburgh, Newburgh, Olmsted, Parma, Rockport, Royalton, Solon, 



Strongsville, Warrensville, and Orange. East Cleveland and Chagrin 
Falls were soon added. 

From time to time others have been formed, which will be referred 
to later. 

When Cuyahoga County was organized with these original townships, 
it contained no villages and no cities. The total population numbered 
1,495 white souls, Indians not counted. The original survey was made 
as follows: the surveyors laid out upon the ground the forty-first parallel 
of latitude as a base line, beginning at the Pennsylvania line and extending 
westward 120 miles. From this line they ran lines of longitude, five miles 
apart, due north to Lake Erie. These were crossed by east and west 
lines, five miles apart, thus making the townships five miles square, 
except for the irregular shore of the lake. 

The townships were numbered as ranges, counting from the Penn- 

















26 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


sylvania line as a meridian, westward, to the number of twenty-four, mak¬ 
ing 120 miles. From the base line they were numbered, northward, to 
the shore of Lake Erie. 

Cleveland, before it had a name as a township, was known as No. /, in 
the Twelfth Range. It is twelve townships west of the Pennsylvania 
line and seven townships north of the forty-first parallel of latitude. 

The record of the survey of the Reserve for the Connecticut Land 
Company, which included this region, is interesting in detail. The varia¬ 
tion of the compass, as will be observed by reference to the surveyor’s 
notes, was a constant element of trouble. John Milton Holley’s record, 
he being one of the surveyors under Moses Cleveland, can be taken as 
an example: Aug. 2, 1796, took variation, cloudy, observation bad, my 
eyes sore, variation two degrees twenty-three seconds. 

This variation of the compass is noted in many daily reports. The 
hardships endured by these men is shadowed in their reports as well. 



The shortage of food, at times, was noted and many incidents calculated 
to break the spirits of men less inured to the strenuous life. But they 
completed the work and the townships were “erected” and Cuyahoga 
County, with the capital of New Connecticut surveyed at the mouth of 
the Cuyahoga River, came into being. 

The settlers bought their land before moving into the wilderness. 
Moses Cleveland was commissioned by the land company to make sales 
but was instructed to sell only to actual settlers. They came by families 
and groups of families to their farms in the woods. Each township 
was organized in due time. The township became a little world in itself. 
It was a “close” corporation, in the sense that the people were closely 
allied. Hospitality was unbounded, but thrift was supreme. In their 
unwritten law, late rising was a misdemeanor and laziness a crime. 

The clearing of the land began, with its attendant dangers from wild 
beasts and hostile Indians. The flint-lock musket was always at hand. 
The ax rang clear from early morn till night. The trees cut for the 
log house made a little clearing for the garden, which gradually enlarged 
to more pretentious fields. At first grain was ground for the family 
use in handmills, wooden dishes were used at the table, and gourd dippers 











THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 27 

at the spring. Benches were used instead of chairs, and the tallow dip 
for light. 

As the acreage of cleared land increased and more crops were grown, 
the streams were harnessed, and the overshot wheel was utilized to grind 
the grain and provide bread for the cabin home. Sometimes these mills 
were far distant, and a trip to mill would mean a day or more over 
primal roads, through the unbroken forest. Work, work, was the motto 
for father, mother, boys and girls. 

One by one new families came, and more strong arms were added 
to those already clearing the forest and providing for the home. Children 
were born, and they must be provided for. Schools were needed and 
religious training. The school and church are handmaidens of civili¬ 
zation, and this was a new civilization. Disputes and differences naturally 



arose, among the settlers, and the necessity for the protection and adjudi¬ 
cation of the law. This was provided for in the organization of the 
county and township, with their legally constituted officers. 

The blacksmith shop, the shoe shop, the harness shop, and the wagon 
shop, were among the first public industries to appear, and were usually 
located at the Center. The gristmill, and later, the sawmill and the 
tannery, with its accompanying barkmill, to grind the bark for tanning, 
sought locations where water power was available. These were some of 
the public industries. In the home, the card, the spinning wheel, the 
swift and reel, the churn and cheesepress, were employed. The store 
and postoffice was a gathering place for young and old, a news exchange, 
the blacksmith shop a political forum. 

Looking back to those pioneer days (it has been 113 years since the 
county was organized), looking back from this age of marvelous advance¬ 
ment in material things, we are liable to think only of the hardships of 
the pioneers. They were happy in their labors. They had a common task 
to perform, and they joined hands with a will. They nursed each other 















28 CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 

in sickness, all lent a hand at raisings, and were proud of their achieve¬ 
ments. 

Most prominent as we review their history appears the circle about 
the hearthstone, the home life, the cheer, the families so long unbroken. 
Thrift was the watchword and hospitality and neighborly fraternity its 
greatest glory. Thrift was mingled with the pleasures of the young. 

There was the husking bee, so full of lively interest, when the finding 
of the red ear brought a pleasing penalty, paid by the lips of the finder, 
amid the smiles and happy faces of the rest. This was a mingling of 
work and pleasure, a novel way to dignify and enthrone labor. In like 
manner the paring bee, that left the completed labor of many hands as 
the evening “favor,” when the paring deftly thrown to form the initials 
of a name, brought blushes and kisses at the same time. This. gave 
countenance to labor as the handmaiden of Cupid and the accompaniment 
of social life. 

I doubt if we, today, who linger over wastefully expensive banquets, 



The New High Level Bridge 


enjoy so much real pleasure as came with the diversions of those early 
days of generous thrift. 

Certain philosophers of our day teach discontent to those who labor 
as an essential element of progress. Our fathers, accepting the decree 
that “by the sweat of thy brow shalt thou eat bread,” ate theirs in full 
compliance with the mandate and in content, mingled their joys and 
pleasures with the burden of labor. 

With all the advantages that we enjoy, having at hand these greater 
opportunities, accumulated from the mighty progress of more than a 
century, it may still be to our advantage to read the history of the past, 
and emulate the virtues of those who built the first fires of this civili¬ 
zation, wrought so industriously, and left us so clean a heritage. 

James A. Garfield had this to say: “The pioneers were a people who 
had been trained in the principles and practice of civil order, and these 
were transplanted to their new home. Those who first broke ground 
here, accomplished a work unlike that which fell to the lot of any 
succeeding generation. The hardships they endured, the life they led, 
the peculiar qualities they needed in their undertaking, and the traits of 
character developed by their work, stand alone in our history.” 

So far as the available records will permit, a history of each town¬ 
ship, as a component part of Cuyahoga County and its people, will follow 
in successive chapters. 



CHAPTER V 


BEDFORD 

The settlement of township No. 6, range 11, was typical, in its early 
history, of all in the county. There was no body of people, coming like 
an army with banners to possess the land. One by one, family after 
family, they began the work of building a civilization, where barbarism 
and savagery had reigned. The home was first established. Around the 
home was built the state, combined authority to conserve for all, the 
blessings of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” 

The Township of Bedford has as its southern boundary Summit 
County; its eastern, Solon Township; its western, Independence, and its 
northern Warrensville. The principal stream is Tinker’s Creek. This 
stream, a branch of the Cuyahoga, rises in Portage County and flows 
through Solon, Bedford and Independence townships. It was given its 
name to preserve the memory of Joseph Tinker, who was one of the 
men sent out by the Connecticut Land Company, of whom the settlers 
bought their land, to survey the Western Reserve or New Connecticut, as 
it was then called. He was master of transportation for the surveying 
parties. In the arduous discharge of his duties, he was drowned in 
Lake Erie off the northern shore of the county. He had much to do 
with navigating the streams by reason of his official duties and hence the 
appropriateness of the designation. 

It may seem strange to this generation, in these days of steam and 
electric and gasoline transportation and power, to speak of Bedford as 
located upon Tinker’s Creek, but, in the wilderness, the streams were 
of great importance, first as lines of transportation through the unbroken 
forest, and later as furnishing power for infant industries. The overshot 
wheel was a great factor in the development of these little communities, in 
the early days, and for many years after the forests had given way to 
fields of grain, orchards, and comfortable homes. And thus as we write 
of the early days, even the smaller streams enter into our history as 
factors of vital interest. 

At the present time these minor streams, with their valleys and sur¬ 
rounding bluffs, their glens and gorges, are merely interesting scenery. 
The Bedford Glens on Tinker’s Creek at the village are much admired 
for their native beauty and are visited each summer by thousands. 

In 1810 the township was surveyed into 100 lots. The first settler was 
Elijah Nobles, who came in 1813 and located in the west part of the 
township, near the Independence line. He later moved to a location in 
the present limits of the village, and was the first settler there. He 
was said to be rather shiftless and when he decided to move to the Center, 
his Independence neighbors, to the number of eighteen, turned out, built 
his log house and moved him in one day. 

Among the well known characters in the very early days of Bedford 
was Benjamin Fitch. He came in 1813 and “squatted” on land in Inde¬ 
pendence and later moved to Bedford, where he located on his own land. 
He was said to be the greatest hunter in this locality and in harmonious 
reciprocitv, the neighbors gladly exchanged work with him, he to hunt 

29 


30 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


for them while they cleared his land and planted and gathered his 
crops. Among other things Fitch started the chair industry in Bedford, 
which has grown to such extensive proportions. 

This industry of which we will speak later has continued to be the 
leading industry of the town. Mr. Fitch began making splint bottom 



chairs, the entire office and working force consisting of one man, him¬ 
self. As proving the excellency of his work, chairs that he made were 
in existence as late as 1885 and some may still be found. His son, 
Andrew G. Fitch, was the second white child born in the town, a daughter 
became the wife of W. O. Taylor. 

In 1814 came Stephen Comstock. His daughter, Sarah Comstock 
born soon after their arrival, had the distinction of being the first white 
person born in the township. About this time Timothv Washburn set¬ 
tled in the township from the East and was the first blacksmith. His 







THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


31 


shop, of course, became the meeting place of settlers, the announcing place 
of new arrivals, a news exchange, a forum. 

We note the arrival of Benoni Brown in 1815, of Moses Gleeson 
in 1818, of Jason Shepard in 1820, John Dunham in 1821, and two 
families in 1822, those of Samuel Morton and Nathaniel K. Nye. By 
1823, when the township was organized, the following persons were 
inhabitants of this little new republic and qualified to take part in the 
town meeting, in addition to those already mentioned: Daniel Benedict, 
Moses Higley, Jared Bark, Barzilla Burk, William Dunshee, Laban 
Ingersoll, John Johnson, John Marvin, Peter Comstock, Philo Barnes, 
Justus Remington, George M. Payne, Luther Willis, Ziba Willis, Daniel 
Gould, Hiram Spofiford, Barney Cobb, Enoch Allen and Nathaniel Haynes. 

These names will be suggestive to many of the readers of this 
history as the heads of families, whose descendants in many walks of 
life, have contributed to the development of the county and state. They 
were not old men and if we enter into the spirit of this history, we must 
think of them in the period of which we write as young, vigorous, per¬ 
sistent, and above all industrious to a fault. How else could they conquer 
the wilderness? Many of the homes could have had truthfully over 
the doorway the legend, now often seen in connection with various pranks 
at wedding parties: “Just married.” It is an unwritten law of The 
Early Settlers Association of Cleveland that under no circumstances and 
on no occasion shall it be called. The Old Settlers Association. The point 
is obvious. 

The first gristmill was built by Adams and Starr in the west part 
of the township on Tinker’s Creek. The water power was “conserved” 
for its operation. We hear a great deal about the conservation of power. 
The early settlers taught us our first lesson along those lines and their 
efforts were a great boon to the community. 

The first tavern was opened in the vicinity of the gristmill by Cardee 
Parker. Parker’s tavern became famous and after his death his wife, 
familiarly called Mother Parker, continued the business. The house lost 
nothing of its prestige under her management and the Parker House 
or Parker’s Tavern continued to be a popular hostelry. In later years 
Mrs. Parker continued the same business in Independence. 

“We’ll have nut cakes fried in b’ars grease in Canaan’s happy land,” 
was the opening line of a song that was sung by an eccentric character 
of pioneer days. Naturally you must first get the bear before this con¬ 
summation, given as one of the delights of paradise, could be brought 
about. Wild honey was often found in quantity and was considered 
a great luxury. It was particularly sought after when the shortage of 
sugar visited the cabin home. The wild turkey was abundant and its 
flesh prized for the table, as now. Venison was, however, the standard 
meat for the family use until the settlers were able to raise the domestic 
product. 

Jason Shepard, a short distance from his house, discovered a bear 
in the act of getting honey from a bee tree. He shot the bear, got a 
large quantity of honey, and before he reached home shot a deer and 
a number of wild turkeys. For variety and quick action this was con¬ 
sidered a very good “bag” even in those days. Shepard moved away 
from the township in 1830. 

The pioneers believed in large families and took the injunction to “be 
fruitful and multiply” as a binding obligation. As examples of this we 
cite a few of the pioneer families of Bedford. 

Moses Gleeson, who settled in 1818 and later moved to Independence, 
had seven sons and three daughters. The sons were named Edwin, 


32 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Elias, Charles, William, Moses, Sardis and Lafayette. One of the 
daughters, Nancy, married Dr. Charles Morgan, who was a prominent 
figure in the pioneer days of Brecksville. 

Stephen Robinson had eight sons, Daniel, Nathan, Isaac, Ebenezer, 
Ezra, Nathaniel, John and Newman. 

Daniel Benedict, one of the first trustees of the township, had nine 
sons, Darius, Ralph, Julius, Sillock, Judson, James, Rodolphus, Phinamber 
and Allison. 



The selection of a name is among the first things to be done in 
bringing a town into being. Often the name is selected with little thought 
and at other times much discussion is involved. The Indian names that 
figure so largely in the area of the Northwest Territory are not so much 
in evidence in the township names of the Western Reserve, selected in 
town meeting. General Bierce relates that at the meeting to organize 
the township of Bath, Summit County, a heated discussion arose. The 
town had unofficially been called Hammondsburg, after a Mr. Hammond, 
who was a large landowner. Mr. Hammond in some manner had offended 
a number of residents and when this meeting was held and the question 















THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


33 


of the name arose, one man said: “Call it Jericho, Jerusalem, or Bath 
or anything but Hammondsburg.” A motion was made to select the 
name Bath, which was immediately carried. We might add that Ham¬ 
mond’s Corners still remains as the unofficial name of a locality in that 
township. 

When the organization of township No. 6, in range 11 of Cuyahoga 
County was taken up, the name Bedford was chosen at the suggestion 
of Daniel Benedict, in compliment to his native town in Connecticut of 
that name. By order of the county commissioners, a meeting was held 
at the home of Prentice B. Ross, to elect township officers. This meeting 
was held April 7, 1823. John Dunham, Daniel Benedict, and Aaron 
Shepard were chosen judges and Laban Ingersoll and A. S. Barnum, 
clerks. 



Map of the Connecticut Western Reserve, 1796 


The election resulted in the selection of Daniel Benedict, James Orr, 
and Laban Ingersoll, trustees; A. S. Barnum, clerk; John Dunham, treas¬ 
urer; Peter Comstock and Darius R. Benedict, constables and listers 
(assessors) ; Barzilla B. Burk and Stephen Comstock, overseers of the 
poor; Daniel Benedict, James Orr and Barzilla B. Burk, road supervisors. 
No justice of the peace was elected at this time but on the 19th day of 
July a special election was held and John Dunham elected to that office. 
He received seventeen votes to eleven for Daniel Benedict and one for 
A. Shepard. Dunham declined to serve and August 9th of the same 
year another special election was held and James Orr elected without 
opposition. Orr qualified and became the first justice of the peace, and 
the wheels of justice began to turn. 

From the organization of the township the growth was regular and 
constant. In 1830 there were sixty families in the township. The 
gristmill and sawmill built by Adams and Starr, taken over and improved 
by Culverson and Boland, was bought by Moses Gleason and did work 






















34 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


for a large area of inhabitants. At the Center, Daniel Benedict built 
a sawmill and brush factory, and in 1825, Luther Willis built mills below 
on Tinker’s Creek, thus disproving the statement of the poet that “The 
mill will not grind with the water that is past.” 

In 1832, a tannery was operated by Allen Robinett and in 1845 it 
was purchased by a firm and operated on a large scale. A woolen 
factory was later operated by Stephen C. Powers and a pail factory 
by Lee Lord and Enoch Allen. For some years a factory for making 
blinds was operated. In 1840, the firm of Comstock, Kirkham and 
Dickey built a foundry. This was burned, rebuilt and burned again. 
The last fire was in 1868. Daniel Benedict as early as 1821 installed a 
carding machine in his sawmill, which could do the work of many 
hands, and save labor for the housewife. 

The first postoffice dates from 1826 and Ziba Willis was the first 
postmaster. The mail was received by stage. Mr. Willis held the 
position for seven years. In 1833, D. B. Dunham was appointed and 
served until 1842. Then in the following order J. P. Robinson, R. D. 
Benedict, Leverett Tarbell, Levi Marble and Charles B. Marble were 
postmasters, covering the first half century after the organization of 
the township. 

If transportation alone is not wealth, the lack of it is a serious 
handicap. The first roads were brush paths with corduroy, that is small 
logs laid crosswise in marshy places. Not until 1830, when the state 
road was built through the township did relief from lack of adequate 
transportation facilities begin in earnest. Road supervisors, elected in 
1823, at the annual election first held, and thereafter, had built dirt roads, 
but these were heavy throughout much of the year. About 1850, a 
plank road was built from Bedford to Twinsburgh in Summit County. 
In 1852, the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railway came to Bedford. It 
ran seven miles through the township and had a station at the Center 
(village). This was a great boost to the growth and prosperity of the 
town in more ways than one. Besides bringing increased transportation 
facilities it put a large sum on the tax duplicate to aid in the upbuilding 
of the schools and the conduct of public affairs. The plank road was 
abandoned in 1860, but about the same time the Cleveland & Mahoning 
Railroad was built through the northeastern part of the township. 

Cities and villages often grow into being without any definite plan 
of arrangement. In the development of a new country, if some one with 
vision does not foresee the future, they just grow. In accounting for the 
crooked streets of Boston, Massachusetts, it is said the inhabitants built 
houses on each side of the cow paths, that led in various directions. 
Cleveland was surveyed for a city, before it was known that a city 
would be built. As early as 1826, three years after the township organi¬ 
zation was perfected in Bedford, Luther Willis made the first effort to 
start a village. He was the owner of considerable water power. A few 
houses were built on the village plan. 

In 1830, Hezekiah Dunham bought a large tract of land, which he 
caused to be surveyed for a village, or a portion of it. This was in 1834. 
The plat was made by John C. Sill. It included land south of the present 
village square and west of the state road. Certain lots were set aside for 
town hall and church sites to be given for the purposes named. Lots 
were sold and the building of the Village of Bedford began. 

By an act of the General Assembly passed March 15, 1837, the “Town” 
of Bedford was established. An election was held the following year 
and George M. Payne was elected mayor and David B. Dunham recorder. 
This simple organization was allowed to lapse with the charter, and the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


35 


township remained as before. In 1852 a new charter was granted to the 
Village of Bedford to include the same territory as the original town, which 
was lots 45 and 46 and parts of 55 and 36 of the township. The records 
of the village before 1859 were destroyed by fire, including the record 
of the organization under the new charter. The mayors, however, during 
the Civil war period which followed were J. C. Cleveland, L. D. Benedict, 
T. H. Cannon, B. J. Wheelock and R. C. Smith, given here in the order 
of their service. 

Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of the village over the town¬ 
ship organization, in the development of the county, has been the matter 
of fire protection. The establishment of a fire department, usually a 
volunteer organization, without men devoting their time exclusively to 
the work, has been the first protective measure. Frame houses are built 
up in close proximity and until the village is organized even that was not 
provided. The volunteer fire department in the Village of Bedford has 
been brought to a state of high efficiency. Its members are employed 
quite near the engine house, and they respond quickly at the call of the 
siren, and their work in action at a fire has been highly commended. These 
organizations, the only ones really possible in the smaller towns, not able 
to bear the expense of a full time force, have often been the butt of jokes 
for their lack of efficiency and for their over efficiency. Mark Twain 
describes a town where the inhabitants do not insure against fire but 
against the fire department. The fire department of Bedford deserves 
a word of praise for its present organization and equipment. 

Bedford has suffered much loss by fires and at one time the main 
business section was burned out. A foundry built by Comstock, Kirkham 
and Dickey, built in 1840, was shortly afterwards burned. It was rebuilt 
and again, in 1868, burned to the ground. 

The first general store in the township was opened in 1831 by David B. 
Dunham at the Center (village). Business increased with the growth of 
the community and a new store was built by Mr. Dunham. This was 
destroyed by fire in 1878. 

The first public house in the village was opened in 1829 by Enoch Allen. 

The first physician was Dr. J. M. Turner, who came in 1828 and re¬ 
mained five years. Dr. Charles Goodrich came in 1830 and two years 
later died of cholera. Dr. D. G. Streator was a well known character of 
the early days. He began practice in the village in 1845 and died in 1878. 

The first newspaper published in the town was started in 1838. It was 
called The Bedford Intelligencer. It was a small sheet devoted to local 
news and was democratic in politics. It ceased publication in 1843. 

Of the schools of Bedford no record remains prior to 1840. The little 
red schoolhouses located in the various school districts of the township 
were the universities supplied for the schooling of the children of the 
settlers. Like the township, the little red school is passing. With all its 
faults it had its remarkable qualities. It sent forth into the world many 
strong characters whose education came from its system of individual 
training. It was a university. All in the same room, the little tot in the 
primer was listening to the recitations of the classes above him and absorb¬ 
ing bits of history, geography, biography, etc. He heard the reading of 
choice selections in literature, the comments of the teacher, and noted the 
inspiring things for future reference. This continued until he finally 
advanced to be an actor on the stage he had so long reviewed. So it was 
in other classes. Again, the scholar in the advanced classes was constantly 
reviewing what he had gone over by hearing, apart from his studying, the 
mistakes made and corrected in those recitations below. The little red 
schoolhouse was a great builder. 


Vol. 1-2 


36 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Among the known teachers of Bedford in the early days were Miss 
Barnes, H. L. Sill, C. Ruggles, R. Root, W. Johnson, D. Baldwin, M. 
Smith, Polly Allen, Betsy Predner, Mary Ann Sill, Laura Gould, Mary 
McCartney, Mariah Peck and L. Ruggles. In 1848 there were eleven 
school districts in the township, with a schoolhouse and teacher in each. 
The total school fund amounted to $665.40. At the present time, exclusive 
of the Village of Maple Heights, which was formed from the Township 
of Bedford, there are four school buildings, with a total enrollment of 
1,300 pupils and total school expense of $185,000. The district school- 
houses have been abandoned. Four attractive, rapid and commodious 
busses bring all pupils who live beyond a certain distance away to the three 
ward or grade schools and the high school. 

The high school building, recently built, is one of the finest in the 
county. It stands on an eminence with an attractive view all about and 
around it. It cost, including the site, half a million of dollars. It has a 
cafeteria, sewing room, a manual training department, etc. The schools 
of Bedford employ fifty teachers, including the superintendent, two super¬ 
visors and the principal of the high school. A. E. Moody, the present 
capable superintendent, has his office at the new high school building. The 
principal of the high school is O. C. Irwin. 

Leading up to the present complete organization of the schools, from 
the district school to the present climax, in the new high school with its 
up to date equipment, we gather some intervening history. The Bedford 
News Register, edited by Mrs. John Freeman, in its High School Edition 
of February 2, 1922, and which contains an account of the dedication of 
the new building, collates a fund of information. Articles by Azora Hub- 
bell Parker, Amelia Harrington McCaughey, O. K. Wheelock, Margaret 
Ennis, May Tarbell, Daisy Anderson, Maurice G. Hammond, Mrs. George 
Flickinger, Helen Palmer Hubbard, Theodore Blake, Edna Gates Handy- 
side and others are full of interesting reminiscences of the schools. 

Between the district schools and the first graded school came a number 
of private schools. These were held in private houses as a rule. One 
was conducted in the basement of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The 
first public school building at the village stood on the square more than 
seventy years ago. Then came the red schoolhouse on the hill. We quote 
from the article of Mrs. Parker: “The old red building stood in un¬ 
adorned simplicity ‘four square’ to every wind that blew. * * * The 

spacious ground about the building was alive at noon and recesses with 
merry boys and girls at play. The favorite games of the girls in summer 
were Pomp Pomp Pull Away, Crack the Whip and Old Witch. The boys 
played Two Old Cat, Base Ball (not the present game) and Ante Ante 
Over. In winter, Fox and Geese was one of the sports and the steep hill 
at the rear was a fine place for coasting. The fortunate boy with a sled 
would glide merrily down the hill with his ‘best girl’ in front, while others 
found it equally exciting to coast down on a board, and some of the more 
daring would take the swift slide on their feet. 

“There was no grading in the school in those days, but the pupils were 
incited to strenuous effort by the offer of prizes for scholarship and de¬ 
portment. Jimmie Mathews won a Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 
under the tuition of R. C. Smith. Reading, writing and spelling received 
special attention. Rienzi’s address to the Romans and Patrick Henry’s 
speech before the Virginia Convention were rendered with all the fervor 
of impassioned orators. ‘The Death of Little Nell’ would be read with 
trembling voice and tearful eye. A critic was often appointed to note the 
errors in deportment and speech during the day and his observations 
read at the close of school. This was a spur to good behavior and correct 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


37 


language. To be called one of the teacher’s ‘wheel horses’ was an honor 
to make one swell with pride. Likewise a blunder in pronunciation or a 
stupid recitation sunk one in the depths of humiliation. * * * De¬ 
bating societies were formed and school papers sparkled with wit and 
were embellished with poetry. School exhibitions were given which had 
all the snap and dramatic enthusiasm of the modern plays. Some of the 
teachers who followed specialized in some particulars. Wahoub will be 
remembered by the songs he taught in school. ‘Fairy Moonlight,’ ‘Rain 
on the Roof,’ and ‘Up with the Lark in the Morning’ still ring their re¬ 
frain in the memory of the few old boys and girls of ‘Ye Olden Time.’ 
Harrison Flick, who afterwards became distinguished in law and politics, 
was popular not only in being a good teacher but in being a good sport 
with the boys in all their games on the school ground. 

“Among the ladies who taught in the old schoolhouse was Isabel Cuth- 
bertson Ennis, who was a person of unusual refinement and strength of 
character. She stimulated not only the mental but the moral growth of 
the pupils. Julia Gould Clapp was another teacher who is remembered for 
her vivid and vigorous personality and for her efforts to stimulate a taste 
for literature and composition. 

“Among the later teachers of conspicuous characteristics was R. C. 
Smith. He was noted for thoroughness, discipline and grammatical ex¬ 
pression. ‘Not how much, but how well’ was his motto. The last to 
teach in the old school building was Prof. O. C. Hubbell. Cooperation and 
good fellowship made school work a pleasure under his regime. 

“In 1875 the new building was dedicated by B. A. Hinsdale of Hiram 
College. Dr. J. P. Robison, of ancient fame, turned over the keys to O. C. 
Hubbell, the teacher. The old building was used until the new one was 
completed. Standing in the background, its days numbered, it was sold 
under the hammer for fifty dollars. 

“It remained for Prof. C. D. Hubbell, whose work began in the brick 
building on Washington Street at the head of Monroe Street, to organize 
the work into a graded school in 1881. There were two grade teachers 
the first year, Minnie Robison (Robinette) and Cora Alexander (Orchard). 
It was in 1885 when the first class to be called high school seniors prepared 
themselves for the first commencement exercises in the Bedford schools. 
The graduating class consisted of five members, Amelia Harrington, Etta 
Conant, Hattie Alexander, O. K. Wheelock and B. J. Sawyer. This com¬ 
mencement was an auspicious occasion and the whole town turned out. 
The superintendent at this time was C. D. Hubbell and the school board 
consisted of the president, J. W. Derthick; clerk, George Whitlam; 
treasurer, A. J. Hensey; I. M. Harrington, John Hickman and A. K. 
Burroughs. The teachers at this time were Flora Stevenson (Freeman), 
Ida Wells and Julia Benedict (Collins).” 

We quote from Mrs. May C. Whitaker, nee Tarbell, now president of 
The Cleveland Woman’s Press Club: “My educational career began with 
a term in the little red schoolhouse, which stood where the town hall now 
stands. The schoolhouse was about the size of a prosperous farmer’s 
smokehouse and was built of red brick. Miss Hettie Culver was the 
teacher. My only memory is of the day when Dora Robinson, Carrie 
Comstock and myself dared to walk barefooted from our homes across 
the square to the school. It was very hot and the dust was fine and 
soothing to our feet, but Miss Culver was shocked * * * My big 

brother L. P. was disagreeable when I entered high school. He magnified 
my mistakes and made them public, all to prove that I was too young to be 
there. It was not the last shock his generation has suffered because of 
the advance of woman in education.” 


38 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


The present members of the Board of Education are William Wallace, 
president; Bruce Taylor, vice president; A. B. Blackman, clerk; Justin 
Griess, H. M. Molder, J. Burkett. From the establishing of the first graded 
school the superintendents have been C. D. Hubbell, J. L. Wright, J. C. 
Petir, H. L. Rawdon, O. C. Kurtz and the present superintendent, 
A. E. Moody. 

Closely allied with the schools, as encouraging the study of music 
therein, and creating also in the community a taste for good music, has 
been The Bedford Music Club. The founder and first president was 
Mrs. John Freeman, the present editor of The Bedford News Register. 
This club was organized in 1899 and was first called The Ladies’ Musical 
Club. The meetings are held in private houses, where programmes are 
studied. Its concerts are held in the auditorium of the high school. Its 
presidents have been Mrs. John Freeman, Mrs. Alfred J. Webb, Mrs. 
Oliver M. Smith, Miss Maude C. Ingersoll, Miss Mary C. Burroughs, Mrs. 
Hugh L. Norton, now deceased, Mrs. Charles R. Hinchman, Mrs. Wil¬ 
liam B. Yost, Miss Anna Estella Maxseiner, Mrs. Bayard T. Wright, 
Mrs. William Wallace, Mrs. Douglas P. Handyside and Miss Trissa Hub¬ 
bard, the present president. 

The settlers recognized both the law of man and the law of God. 
While duly organizing for the establishing of civil local government that 
all differences should be ironed out by the sober judgment of the law, 
whose principles should be in accordance with divine law, they yet gave 
attention to the church as did their New England forbears. Denomina- 
tionalism was a strong characteristic. The road to heaven was a denom¬ 
inational highway. Sermons were largely devoted to sectarian discus¬ 
sions. Revivals were frequent and the number of converts depended much 
upon the interest created in certain forms of worship and methods of 
baptism. No Billy Sunday, in those days, held meetings devoid of or 
apart from the question of denomination. 

The oldest church in Bedford, dating from its first inception, was the 
Methodist Episcopal. As far back as 1830, the Rev. John Crawford, 
a circuit rider, whose field of operations was from Hudson to Cleveland, 
along the east side of the Cuyahoga River, stopped off at Bedford. He 
met Nathaniel Haynes, the village or township blacksmith, who had been 
holding some religious meetings, getting together those of the Methodist 
faith, like himself. Reverend Crawford organized them into a church. 
There were seven original members, Nathaniel Haynes and wife, Abraham 
Turner, wife and two daughters and Mrs. Betsy Fitch. Soon after Mr. 
Fitch, Joseph Skinner, David Skinner, and Daniel Baldwin were taken 
in as members. The first meetings were held in a schoolhouse and were 
conducted by circuit riders. The first regular ministers were Ira Eddy 
and William F. Day. The meetings of the church, as its numbers 
increased, were later held in a building erected by Mrs. Fanny Willis. 
For some time this building was the meeting place of all the religious 
denominations, but was finally given to the Methodist Church on the con¬ 
dition that it be moved to another lot. Hezekiah Dunham then gave the 
church a lot on the corner of Columbus and Washington streets and here 
the building was moved in 1849. In 1885, the present structure at the 
corner of Main and North streets, was built. The present minister is 
Rev. S. F. Ross. 

The Church of Christ was organized in 1832 and its house of wor¬ 
ship built in 1838. Like the Methodist Church, it had no settled pastor 
for some time, the elders and occasionally a traveling evangelist officia¬ 
ting. The first regular pastor was Rev. J. O. Beardsley, who afterwards 
went to Jamaica, as a missionary. This church grew in numbers and 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


39 


became one of the largest in the county, becoming a sort of parent church. 
No less than fifty churches have been organized in different sections as 
offshoots of the Bedford Church of Christ. Among those who have been 
pastors of the church since its organization, are many, whose names are 
familiar to the older residents of the county. J. Harrison Jones, Lathrop 
Cooley, W. A. Knight, and E. C. Harris, with Reverend attached to 
their names, are among the number. 

The First Baptist Church of Bedford was organized in 1854 and until 
the present church was built occupied a building, now torn down, near 
the site of the church now occupied. The old structure was a frame build¬ 
ing while the new one is built of brick, attractive in appearance, a modern 
building with a large auditorium, having a seating capacity of 400 and a 
Sunday school assembly room capable of seating 100 more. The new 
building, however attractive, cannot divert the minds of the older residents, 
who are proud of the fact of their attendance, in worship, in the old. The 
new church was built in 1893. Among the early members of the church 
we note Newman Robinson, George Cowin, Mrs. Sheets, Mrs. Burns, 
Mrs. Ruth and Anne Hunt, and as pastor, Rev. Mr. Tallhurst. 

Of later date than the churches mentioned comes the organization of 
the Christian Science Church in Bedford. Its history runs like this: 
Mrs. Kate Senter Reid first called a meeting at her home of those inter¬ 
ested, with a view to holding meetings in Bedford, March 21, 1916. 
These meetings continued at her home until 1918, when the place of meet¬ 
ing was changed to the Knights of Pythias hall. Later, this group of 
people, which had formed themselves into a society, bought a house on 
Grace Street, which they remodeled for their use. In this building their 
services are now held. There is a Sunday school and reading room, and 
the society has a membership of twenty-five. 

In the section of Bedford Township, annexed to the village in 1922, 
and now a part thereof, a splendid parochial school building has been 
erected. It is located in the vicinity of the McMvler Interstate Company. 
The building is of Spanish architecture, surrounded by large pleasant 
grounds and is equipped with attractive and suitable furniture for its 
work. This building was erected in 1912 and the school opened with 
fifty pupils. It now has doubled in numbers, having 100 pupils, and is 
under the direction of Dr. John R. Hagan, who was a classmate of Father 
Frey, secretary to the bishop of this diocese, Bishop Schrembs. 

In view of the innumerable accidents in our streets, due to the auto¬ 
mobile traffic, it may be of interest to recount the enterprise of one of 
Bedford’s citizens in the early years. Squire Dunham was the first elim¬ 
inator of grade crossings. His farm extended to Washington Street and 
over it he built a bridge for a driveway and for the passage of his cattle 
and other stock. Squire Dunham will be remembered as one of the first 
officers of the township at its organization in 1823. Says H. W. Ham¬ 
mond in a reminiscent article about early Bedford: “When Squire Dun¬ 
ham laid out Dunham Street, he sold the lot at the corner of said street 
and Wade Street to my grandfather, John Hammond, who built a home 
there. In the deed was an agreement that Dunham should have the right 
of way over this bridge and the privilege of relaying the driveway and 
repairing the bridge. Few people living in Bedford today can remember 
the old bridge under which we used to drive.” Mr. Hammond adds: 
“Dear old Bedford! I think I could fill a ream of paper telling about the 
good old days, the old boys and all the good people, who lived in our 
village.” 

Of the fraternal orders in Bedford, Masonry holds a large place. 
Bedford Lodge No. 375, Free and Accepted Masons, has a 


40 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


history dating back to the close of the Civil war. Its dispensation was 
granted October 17, 1866 and its charter October 16, 1867. The charter 
members, all of whom are new dead, were J. B. Hains, C. N. Hamlin, 
A. A. Benedict, R. C. Smith, W. H. Sawyer, Levi Case, Enoch Allen, 
A. J. Wells, J. J. Brittan, S. S. Peck, L. C. Hains, Samuel Patrick, 
E. Cowles, and H. H. Palmer. It has a present membership of 294. The 
first Master was J. B. Hains, and the present presiding officer is H. W. 
Davis. A Past Masters’ Association of this lodge was organized in 1920 
and now has ten members. John Freeman is its president. Summit 
Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, was organized in Twinsburgh in 1856 
and removed to Bedford in 1886. It has a Past High Priests’ Association 
of ten members, of which J. B. Kenyon is president, and has at present 
206 members. Bedford Chapter Order of the Eastern Star was organ¬ 
ized in 1915 and now has 193 members. Mrs. Alice P. Green is Worthy 
Matron and Miss Laura S. Berena, secretary. Its first Worthy Matron 
was Mrs. Eliza B. L. Tinker. 

Among the other fraternal orders having lodges in Bedford are 
Royal Dunham Post of the Grand Army of the Republic, Golden Rod 
Lodge Knights of Pythias, Winchester Circle No. 46, Ladies of the 
Grand Army of the Republic. A lodge of the Independent Order of 
Foresters, Unity Hive No. 428 Ladies of the Maccabees, Tent No. 562 
Knights of the Maccabees, Dewey Camp No. 4099 Modern Woodmen of 
America, a lodge of the Woodmen of the World, and Prosperity Lodge 
No. 4774 Royal Neighbors of Prosperity. 

The Bedford Board of Trade has been for some years a vital factor 
in the prosperity of the town. It had in 1912, when it published a booklet 
called “Beautiful Busy Bedford,” a membership of seventy-six, and its 
officers were O. K. Wheelock, president; O. W. Kurtz and H. E. Lowry, 
vice presidents; R. F. Thomas, secretary; C. J. Wheeler, treasurer; 
P. D. Metzger, John Freeman and E. H. Collins, trustees. Its first 
secretary was H. A. Adams. 

In writing of industrial Bedford, first in point of interest comes 
the chair industry. Bedford chairs are known over the world. We have 
referred to the beginning, when Benjamin Fitch, long before the township 
was organized, began making splint bottom chairs. The first advance of 
primitive man toward civilization has been marked by getting him up 
from the ground into a chair. The Indians left no chairs and used none. 
Chairs are distinctly a product of advancement. W. O. Taylor, in 1833, 
worked with Benjamin Fitch making chairs. All the details are not 
known to history but in due time he married his daughter. This indus¬ 
trial romance advanced the chair industry. In 1844, Mr. Taylor began 
the manufacture of chairs on his own account as W. O. Taylor and Sons. 
This firm developed into the Taylor Chair Company, in whose chairs “all 
the world is rocking.” Benjamin Fitch made many improvements and 
invented devices for saving labor in the manufacture. His descendants 
followed his example. In 1865, Vincent A. Taylor, Joseph F. and Wil¬ 
liam E. Taylor, were associated with their father, W. O. Taylor, in the 
factory. This continued for some years. As early as 1856, The Taylor 
Chair Company won the medal at the State Fair in Columbus. In 1876, 
this company won the “Gold Medal” at the World’s Fair in Philadelphia. 
The certificate of award is preserved in the Taylor family. The award 
was made for durability, cheapness, and compactness. In 1869 the factory 
was burned but it was immediately rebuilt, although from lack of adequate 
insurance, the loss was heavy. Vincent A. Taylor, president of the com¬ 
pany, has directed the manufacture to permanent success by specializing in 
many lines. More than 60,000 “comfortable rockers” have been manu- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


41 


factured and marketed in a single year. It has been said that this is 
the largest, exclusive, high grade, rocker plant in the world. Mahogany 
comes to this plant in the log from Cuba, and is sawed into lumber in 
its own mills and then made into rockers, all the work being done in this 
factory. We will speak of Mr. Vincent A. Taylor later, but we are 
not through with the chair industry in Bedford. 

More than seventy years ago another chair industry began in Bedford. 
It is now known as the B. L. Marble Chair Company. Like the Taylor 
Company, it began in a small way. In 1851 it employed five 
men. Today it employs some 250 men, and like the Taylor Company 
specializes in certain lines. The two factories give employment to over 
500 workmen. From 1851 it was B. J. Wheelock, then Wheelock 
and Wright, then another firm, M. A. Purdy and Son, then in 1867 
united under the name of The Bedford Chair Company, then Marble 
and Shattuck, then The B. L. Marble Chair Company. Success has at¬ 
tended these men because of devoted service. B. L. Marble and A. L. 
Shattuck have devoted each a lifetime to the improvement in the manu¬ 
facture of chairs. As the public became more discriminating, this com¬ 
pany called art to its aid and combined it with economic handling of 
material and scientific methods of shipping the finished product. De¬ 
signers were constantly employed but before a particular design was 
placed upon the market the public were called as a jury to decide. Samples 
were placed on sale and the merits decided upon by a practical test. It 
was not what ought to suit the public but what actually did suit that 
counted. Marble chairs are found in the furnishings of statehouses 
and government buildings in many parts of the country. Mr. B. L. 
Marble, after a lifetime devoted to this industry, has retired from active 
participation, but has a son, L. L. Marble, who is active in the company. 
From “Beautiful Busy Bedford” we quote: “The development of the 
chair industry in Bedford reads like a romance, and is full of experi¬ 
ences of deepest interest to all. Ever since the days of the old log cabin and 
open hearth, with grandmother’s high backed rocker, has the work of 
building Bedford chairs gone on, until it is today a splendid industry in 
the permanent building of Bedford.” 

Of the more recent industries of Bedford there is The Franklin Oil 
and Gas Company, The Best Foundry Company, The McMyler Interstate 
Company and The Mason Tire and Rubber Company. The Best Foundry 
Company manufactures stove castings for a variety of makes and for 
some of the largest stove manufactories in the world. In 1905, the first 
finished product was turned out. By 1912, it was said to be the largest 
foundry of this kind in the world, employing 600 men, and with an 
annual pay roll of $500,000. The general manager, Mr. Henry M. 
Molder, is a prominent figure in the industrial life of the town. The 
McMyler Interstate Company was incorporated in 1902, located in Cleve¬ 
land and later removed to Bedford. Its products are structural steel loco¬ 
motive cranes and other special machinery. This company has placed 
extensive installations in many parts of the world, including England, 
Japan, and Australia. It but recently constructed the largest locomotive 
crane in the world and placed it in the League Island Navy Yard at Phil¬ 
adelphia. One more industry should be mentioned, that of the Bedford 
China Company. This is of recent establishment but is a factor in the 
industrial life of the town. 

At present Bedford has two newspapers, The Bedford News Register, 
which is in its twentieth year, edited by Mrs. John Freeman, and The 
Bedford Herald, conducted by C. P. Smith, son of R. C. Smith, referred 
to in connection with the school history of the town. On February 2. 


42 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


1922, The News Register published a High School Edition, a very cred¬ 
itable number, which reflected credit on the editor, Mrs. Freeman. The 
Herald has but recently started and its future is to be determined. 

The present officers of the Village of Bedford are mayor, N. Ray 
Carroll; clerk, E. L. Allen; treasurer, W. O. Cameron; marshal, Fred M. 
Clampitt; police justice, John A. Flick; solicitor, L. R. Landfear; city 
engineer, B. T. Wright; councilmen, J. A. Squire, L. L. Horton, Fred 
Oldham, W. C. Warren, E. R. Stillwell, W. L. Avery. 

In writing of the growth and development of Bedford I am reminded 
of the lines of Tennyson: 

“We rise on stepping stones of 
Our dead selves to better things.” 

In 1866, a Rolling Mill Association, with a large capital, was formed 
and this capital was largely subscribed by Bedford citizens. A plant was 
erected and business started but after a short but precarious existence, it 
was removed, the Bedford plant dismantled, and the stockholders left 
with valueless certificates. This was a loss to the town in many ways. 

The care of the sick and disabled has not been neglected in the 
progress upward from the log house era. The town has a General Hos¬ 
pital, located on North Street, with a corps of trained nurses and a med¬ 
ical staff, composed of Dr. R. S. Hubbard, Dr. W. H. Wycoff, Dr. W. F. 
Golling and Dr. R. R. Seidel. 

The Bedford Bank of The Cleveland Trust Company, with George 
C. Flickinger, as manager, furnishes the general banking facilities, while 
The Bedford Savings and Loan Company, organized under the loan com¬ 
pany laws, encourages the building of homes by construction loans. We 
must mention The American Legion Post, No. 350, Frank G. Hoeffler, 
post commander, by soldiers of the World war; The American Legion 
Auxiliary, president, Mrs. G. L. Bartlett; the Boy Scouts, F. C. Kramer, 
scout master; The Pythian Sisters, Mrs. Fern Pinnell, M. E. C.; D’An¬ 
nunzio Lodge, Bedford Retail Merchants’ Association; The Ladies 
Benefit Association of the Maccabees, commander, Mrs. Lettie Avery; 
The Federated Parent-Teachers Club; The Woman’s Athletic Associa¬ 
tion, president, Mrs. H. W. Davis, and the Volunteer Fire Department, 
of which reference has already been made, with C. S. Brown, as chief. 

Among the new buildings of note and now under construction that 
of the Church of Christ on North Street should be mentioned. The cor¬ 
ner stone was laid October 22, 1922. Under it were placed, as announced 
by Judge John A. Flick at the service, a bible, which had belonged to 
Squire Charles A. Ennis, a souvenir plate commemorating the seventy- 
fifth anniversary of the old church, which had belonged to Mrs. Ellen 
Nelson Marble, late wife of Mr. B. L. Marble, church and Sunday school 
publications, copies of The Bedford News Register and the Bedford Her¬ 
ald, Bedford Music Club Year Book, Hiram College Year Book, and 
envelopes containing names of members of various church organizations. 
The speaker of the day, Dr. Arthur J. Culler, dean of Hiram College, gave 
an historical sketch of the church known as “Christian” or “Disciples of 
Christ.” Doctor Culler spoke for the restoration of the rural church and 
deprecated the practice of the members staying at home on Sunday and 
sitting by the roadside and selling fruit to passing autoists. He referred 
to the fact that James A. Garfield, who was a student at Hiram College, 
when it was called Hiram Eclectic Institute, had spoken before the Bed¬ 
ford Church. 

Historical incidents are not wanting in the early history of Bedford. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


43 


Our local histories all give in detail the hanging of John O’Mic in 1812. 
This, the first execution in the county, is important as showing the reign 
of the civil law and the sober execution of criminal justice. O’Mic was 
an Indian, who killed two trappers, and was tried and executed at Cleve¬ 
land in that year. After the murder, O’Mic hid for several days in the 
deep woods along Tinker’s Creek. It was near the A. B. C. Railway 
bridge or near where that crosses the creek in Bedford, that he was finally 
captured by one of his tribe. 

It is related that in 1813, during the War of 1812, a band of British 
soldiers encamped on Euclid Creek, near Cleveland, and two of their num¬ 
ber, out on a foraging expedition, wandered to the home of Elijah Nobles, 
already referred to as the first settler in Bedford. He took them in and 
kept them over night, then piloted them to their camp, telling them he 
would shoot them if they came back. This story is more believable as the 
incident probably occurred after the victory of Commodore Perry on 
Lake Erie. Before that time the settlers were in fear and trembling. 
That victory, although the war did not end until 1814, put courage in the 
hearts of the settlers. 

When the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railway was completed it 
was dedicated by an excursion over the line. A number stopped off at 
Bedford, including the governor and other state officials, to view the glen, 
and three of the number were left behind, when the train pulled out. These 
were taken in a row boat to Cleveland, by way of Tinker’s Creek and the 
Cuyahoga River. 

P. T. Barnum was a great advertiser and when he opened his first 
show in Cleveland, he gave ten free tickets to prominent people of Bed¬ 
ford. Train service not being available and not wishing to lose the ben¬ 
efits conferred on them, the donees went to Cleveland on a hand car. This 
car was stolen during the evening, and the delegation, manfully, walked 
home after the show. 

Bedford was a safe station on the Underground Railway in slavery 
days. The woods, glens, and homes furnished an excellent hiding place 
for refugees, before their final entrance into Canada. It is related that 
although most of the people in the town knew of the presence, from time 
to time, of runaway slaves, their presence was never revealed. 

We have referred to “Mother Parker’s” Tavern, and its popularity in 
the early days. It is related that one night two travelers came to the hos¬ 
telry and engaged lodgings, the one a fine looking, large man, and the 
other quite small, apparently a boy. They left early without paying for 
their lodging, escaping the vigilant eye of “Mother Parker.” Some months 
later she received a letter enclosing several times the amount, which she 
had charged on the books to “lost.” In the letter was a confession that 
her visitors were an exiled prince and his young bride from one of the 
leading countries of Europe. Who this scion of royalty was she never 
would tell, as the letter in terms requested that the secret of the pair be 
kept from the public. Dame rumor, however, had it that the prince 
became, later, the ruling monarch of an empire across the seas. 

In 1915, the Village and Township of Maple Heights was formed 
from the Township of Bedford. The township is merely a judicial town¬ 
ship, having a justice of the peace. Its territory the same as the village, 
is entirely separate from the original township. Bedford Township in¬ 
cludes the village, and taxes are assessed at a different rate outside the 
village, but the work is equitably divided. The township cares for the poor, 
the township roads, outside of the village, and little else. The schools 
are united and pupils transported, as we have described. Maple Heights 
being entirely separate has its own school system. It had in its schools 


44 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


in 1920, 350 pupils, and employed ten teachers, and the total school 
expense was $46,670. The schools have now enrolled 700 pupils, and 
there are twenty-two teachers employed. The budget for school expenses 
has reached the sum of $111,575. Harry L. Peets, Mabel Lawrence, Wil¬ 
liam Harbkersman, Mary Thornheld and L. O. Snyder constitute the 
Board of Education. 

At the organization of the village in 1915, the following officers were 
elected: Mayor, W. E. Lambert; clerk, C. G. Holtz. The present officers 
are: Mayor, C. G. Holtz; clerk, F. J. Vasek; treasurer, F. Holtz; mar¬ 
shal, L. Seeley; police judge, F. H. Levy; street commissioner, Joe Miller; 
building inspector, C. H. Fortenbaugh; justice of the peace of Maple 
Heights Township, F. H. Levy. The Village Council, which meets the 
first and third Wednesday of each month, consists of G. W. Caldwell, 
W. A. Koring, P. Raimer, A. G. Beitt, C. W. Buettner, and E. F. Borges. 

In 1921, a race track with the necessary buildings was constructed here 
by the Ohio State Jockey Club, and the Maple Heights races are an annual 
event, attended by large numbers. This has done much to advertise the 
village and contribute to its activities. As an evidence that the new village 
is functioning as an up to date municipality, we give the report of a session 
of the Police Court as printed in the Bedford Herald of November 2, 
1922: “The usual number of violators of the law and ordinances were 
gathered in by the police force (Marshal Seeley) and were given an oppor¬ 
tunity to explain to his honor. D. M. Sherman, of Cleveland, was 
arraigned and plead guilty to having violated the speed ordinance. Five 
dollars and costs! C. J. Shelly, of Cleveland, owned to having fractured 
the speed ordinance, passed to regulate the speed of motor driven vehicles, 
but, upon extenuating circumstances being shown, was permitted to depart 
upon payment of costs. Mrs. C. Eames, of East Cleveland, blushingly 
admitted that she was guilty of violating the speed ordinance of Maple 
Heights. The Court was moved by the beauty and grace of the prisoner 
and her evident distress, because of her fault, and assessed her the very 
light fine of—five dollars and costs. Thomas Rini, of Cleveland, also 
entered a plea of guilty to the charge of speeding and was requested to 
donate to the Village of Maple Heights the sum of—five dollars and costs. 
W. J. Fritz, of Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, was glad to plead guilty to the 
same charge and escape with a fine of—five dollars and costs. J. Dyn- 
wozynski of Foreman Avenue, Cleveland, plead guilty to the same charge, 
whereabouts His Honor, in pity, cut his fine to—five dollars and costs. 
Another speedster, J. R. Gammeter, of Akron, explained fluently and at 
great length, that motorists in Akron think nothing of driving at the rate 
of fifty or sixty miles an hour. His Honor was equally confidential and 
carefully explained to Mr. G., that, after leaving Akron, the speed limit is 
gradually reduced until, at Maple Heights, twenty miles is the limit. To 
impress this fact more firmly upon the mind of Mr. G., His Honor inflicted 
a fine of—five dollars and costs.” 

We have referred to the “Underground Railway” in the period pre¬ 
ceding the Civil war, with Bedford as a station. It was peculiar in this, 
that the law violators were people of prominence and, except in this par¬ 
ticular, law abiding. The institution of slavery seemed so obnoxious that 
a resort to the “higher law” was adopted without disturbing the conscience. 
Now comes in this day a violation of law by people otherwise law abiding 
and of the highest character. Rapid transit by means of motor cars 
becomes so fascinating that innumerable citizens of good repute are daily 
arrested, tried and sentenced. Oftentimes workhouse and jail sentences 
are inflicted. This is a historic fact and the day in the Police Court of 
Maple Heights Village is given merely to reflect that fact without sug- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


45 


gesting what the future historian may find in connection with the wonder¬ 
ful progress from the days of the log cabin and the ox team. 

Maple Heights, its territory, formed from the original number 6, 
range 11 of townships as surveyed by the surveyors headed by Moses 
Cleveland, is but seven years old, but it has attractive dwellings, fine 
schools and an enterprising people. 

Bedford Township, a farming territory, remains in lessened area and 
with its organization intact. The present officers are: Trustees, George 
A. Laing, C. W. J. Alexander and George Forbes; clerk, E. J. Caskey; 
township road superintendent, Robert Cowan. It has furnished public men 
of prominence in public affairs. Vincent A. Taylor served as a member 
of Congress in 1891 and 1892. Alfred W. Lamson, an able jurist, was 
common pleas judge for many years. Clark Alexander and Pierce D. 
Metzger served each as county commissioner, Mr. Metzger having served 
previously as a member of the General Assembly of Ohio. Dr. R. S. 
Hubbard was county treasurer for two terms, this being the limit under 
the law. R. C. Smith, Samuel Patrick and C. D. Hubbell served for many 
years as county school examiners. Other of Bedford citizens are as 
deserving of mention, but this will show in what different lines the cit¬ 
izens of Bedford have served the county, the state and the nation. In the 
Civil war, in the Spanish-American war, and in the World war against 
central Europe, her citizens were not found’ wanting. Dunham Post, of 
the Grand Army of the Republic, and the American Legion Post, survivors 
of the War of 1860 and of the War of 1914, reflect her service to the 
nation. 


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Moses Cleaveland's Commission 


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CHAPTER VI 
BRECKSVILLE 


The part of God’s green earth which includes the hills and streams 
and valleys of Brecksville is included in the Western Reserve, that shrewd 
acquirement by Governor Winthrop and the Connecticut Colony 
from the British king, Charles II, in 1662. The famous charter that 
was hidden in the oak of historic fame included in its description of 
boundaries this region. Up to the year 1800 and several years there¬ 
after Brecksville was a dense unbroken forest of oak, maple, and other 
deciduous trees, with some fringes of pine and hemlock along the Chip¬ 
pewa and its branches. The most considerable of this growth was the 
Pine Woods on the Chippewa, the land on which they stood, now in¬ 
cluded in the preserves of the “Glen Valley Club.” 

These magnificent pines met the fate of others of the universal forest, 
in time, but for years after the township was settled, they afforded a 
popular picnic ground and their trunks reechoed to innumerable 4th of 
July orations. As demonstrated by their rings of growth, these giant 
trees had stood before the caravels of Columbus sailed westward to make 
his name famous as the discoverer of a new world. 

By right of possession this land belonged to the Indians and was 
theirs to have and to hold. By the divine right of kings transmitted in 
the Connecticut Charter it belonged to the “Nutmeg State,” the suc¬ 
cessor of the Connecticut Colony, and, through the Connecticut Land 
Company, was placed upon the market subject to such incumbrance as 
the Red Man might prove to be. The State of Connecticut appointed a 
commission, and this commission sold to the Connecticut Land Com¬ 
pany, and from this company the original pioneers bought their land. 
The price per acre varied with the size of the tract purchased, and was 
at first from 50 cents to a $1.00. 

As we have said, the portion of the Western Reserve west of the 
Cuyahoga River was designated as Indian country long after that east 
of the river had been ceded to the white man. The Cuyahoga marks 
the eastern boundary of the Township of Brecksville. The territory 
west of the Cuyahoga River, which includes this township, was occupied 
by the Chippewas until finally ceded to the Connecticut Land Company. 
It is a matter of history, if not of pride, that trinkets and whiskey cut 
a large figure in the negotiations by which this tract was finally ceded 
to the white man. Brecksville was organized in 1814, three years after 
the organization of the county. It was one of the first townships west 
of the river to form a local government. Bands of Indians lurked about 
Brecksville until after the War of 1812, when, as many of their tribe 
had joined with the Indians of Canada as allies of the British, they 
were given to understand that their presence was no longer desired. 

John Breck, a soldier of the War of 1812 and a native of Northampton, 
Massachusetts, inherited land purchased by his father from the Con¬ 
necticut Company. On the division, as arranged by the company, he was 
given title to parts of townships in several counties. In this township 

47 


48 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


named after him he once held title deeds to half its territory. Like 
Moses Cleaveland, who gave his name to Cleaveland on the lake, he was 
never a resident here, but his three sons were residents for many years, 
Theodore Breck, John Adams Breck and Dr. Edward Breck. Shortly 
after the death of John Breck, in 1830, the three sons settled in 
B recks ville. 

The original John Breck, who gave his name to the town, was a 
colonel in the American army, and, at one time, commanded the forces 
at Fort Independence, Boston Harbor. His wife, Clarissa Allen, was 
the daughter of Rev. Thomas Allen, the first settled minister of Pitts¬ 
field, Massachusetts. It is related of him, that when General Burgoyne 
in the Revolutionary war began his campaign of invasion, Mr. Allen 
heard of it during Sunday service. He promptly dismissed his congrega¬ 
tion and left the pulpit to form a company of minute men, who hastened 
to the relief of the Continental forces. 

Dr. Theodore Breck, a great-grandson of John Breck, now a resident 
of Brecksville, gives this interesting genealogy: “In the year 1630, 
two brothers by the name of Breck landed at the Town of Dorchester, 
Massachusetts. They came from England, but nothing is known of the 
family prior to their crossing the ocean; probably, like many others of 
that time, they had heard stories of the marvels of the new world and 
were anxious to better their fortunes. They did their part in the build¬ 
ing up of the new country, raised families, and prospered more or less 
like others of the newcomers. Gradually, as the families grew larger, 
some of the children started out to see the world and settled in other 
towns so that in a few generations they were represented in Boston and 
in other points in Massachusetts. Finally, one bolder than the rest 
followed the old Bay Path to the western part of the state and settled 
down in Northampton. The family grew and prospered until revolution¬ 
ary times, when we find Robert Breck a merchant in that busy little 
town. After the war he was postmaster of Northampton, appointed by 
Washington, his being the first appointment under the Federal Govern¬ 
ment. He had several sons who looked after his business while he 
served for many years as county clerk. Having some money to invest, 
he bought several tracts of land in the Western Reserve, among them 
being a tract covering about half of the present Township of Brecksville. 

In 1802 Robert Breck died and his property passed to his sons, all 
of whom, save John, died shortly after, leaving John sole heir to the 
business and landed property. John had been married, but his wife 
had died, leaving him a daughter. It was necessary to perpetuate the 
family name. His brother Robert at the time of his death was engaged 
to marry and in his will provided a legacy for the lady. John, in trans¬ 
acting the business connected with the legacy left by his brother, fell 
in love with the girl himself and was accepted. This is the romance 
connected with his marriage to Clarissa Allen, daughter of Rev. Thomas 
Allen, the militant minister of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. 

John desired to know more about the western land left him by his 
father, and employed Alfred Wolcott, of Boston, to go west and survey 
the lands. Wolcott came in 1811, and, assisted by Seth Paine, made 
a survey of the land now comprised in the Township of Brecksville. The 
notes he made give a description of every lot in the township, boundaries 
and measurements, soil and timber. These surveyors returned and made 
their report. Wolcott remained but Paine returned, with his family, and 
became the first settler in the township. John Breck then began to look 
up likely settlers for his tract of land, and these he found among his 
acquaintances in his own town, Northampton. This answers the query 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


49 


so often propounded as to why so many of the early settlers of Brecks- 
ville came from Northampton and its vicinity. 

At the time of the death of John Breck his children were minors 
and the property in the West was given in charge of John Randall. There 
were six children, three of whom came to Brecksville, already mentioned. 
Theodore and Doctor Edward remained until their death, John returned 
to New England and spent the few remaining years of his life there. 
Another family of B recks are identified with the early history of Brecks¬ 
ville. Rev. Joseph Hunt Breck, a cousin of the original John Breck, came 
to the Western Reserve as a missionary in 1823. As a missionary or 
itinerant preacher he traveled through Summit, Geauga and Ashtabula 
counties, preaching. Following his marriage in 1830, and which occurred 
in the East, he came to Brecksville. Two years later he mo\'ed to 
Newburgh and located on a farm to regain his failing health. His son, 
Joseph H. Breck, was identified with the history of that township more 
particularly, and we will speak of him in the chapter on Newburgh. 

In June, 1811, Seth Paine, his wife, two sons and two daughters, 
Oliver N., Spencer White, Almira and Lorina, and with them a young 
unmarried man, Melzer Clark, all from Williamsburg, Massachusetts, 
settled in the southwest corner of the township. They were the first 
settlers of Brecksville. Soon after their arrival Squire Carpenter of 
Richfield was called upon to officiate at the wedding of young Clark 
and Almira Paine. This was the first wedding in Brecksville. The 
couple soon began keeping house near the Paine home, at a point later 
known as Carter’s Corners. Seth Paine, who assisted in the township 
survey, was land agent for Mr. Breck, and held a power of attorney to 
give title to land sold. Clark, whose housekeeping with his new bride 
began across the road but in Royalton Township, was agent of the land 
company for that township. Seth Paine’s commission as agent was from 
a Massachusetts company, consisting of Col. John Breck, Ebenezer Hunt 
and others. As compensation for his services he was to choose 200 
acres anywhere in the township, with the exception that it should not 
be bottom land and should not include a mill site. His choice was in 
the southwest part, as we have indicated. He left his family at a settle¬ 
ment in Newburgh, near what is now the corner of Walker and Broad¬ 
way in Cleveland, during the winter of 1810 and 1811, while he proceeded 
to Brecksville to build a log house. 

As the first settler, something of his family is of historical interest. 
He was of the sixth generation from Stephen Paine, who came from 
Great Ellington, Norfolk County, England, to America in 1638, on the 
ship “Diligent,” and first settled at Hingham, Plymouth County, Massa¬ 
chusetts. In 1661 he and his two sons, with others, purchased a large 
tract of land near Rehoboth, Massachusetts, from Wamsitta, a son of 
Massasoit. Other large purchases show in the records of other parts 
of Massachusetts and of Rhode Island in the name of these Paines. We 
give this in regard to the ancestor of the first settler of Brecksville be¬ 
cause of the general application to all who came to Cuyahoga County in 
the early days in the face of privations and dangers. They were land 
hungry by inheritance. Seth Paine and Melzer Clark, both died in 1815 
and their unfinished work was turned over to other agents of the land 
company. Their families, left without their care, remained in the almost 
unbroken forest. The oldest son of Paine, Spencer, had to take his 
father’s place in supporting the family when he was only fourteen years 
of age. 

Four especial dangers threatened the very early settlers, rattlesnakes, 
Indians, wild beasts and disease. Rattlesnakes were numerous, particu- 


50 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


larly near the Cuyahoga River. As many as thirteen had been killed 
in one place. They would protrude their heads through the puncheon 
floors of the log cabin. Cattle and horses occasionally died from their 
bite. 

While no deaths from rattlesnake bites occurred to Brecksville settlers, 
of which we have record, they were a constant source of fear. Miss 
Rebecca Newell was bitten but recovered. Perhaps her lack of care may 
have been the cause of the bite. It is related of her that when a small 
child she was in the habit of taking her bowl of bread and milk out of 
doors to eat it. No attention was paid at first to this, but it was later 
noticed that she seemed to be growing thin for lack of nourishment, and 
looked pale. She was urged to stay inside, but was so unhappy at the 
restraint that she was again permitted to go out of doors with her 
porringer of food. She was followed and found sitting by a stump in 
the clearing with a large rattlesnake eating from the same dish of milk. 
When the snake put his head in on her side of the dish she would tap him 
with her spoon and say: “Eat on your own side, Old Gray.” It is said 
the snake was killed later and that it had thirteen rattles. 

Bands of Indians lurked about Brecksville, until after the War of 
1812, but were for the most part friendly. The Indians being, in a 
sense, allies of the British the outcome of that war was watched for its 
effect on them and their attitude toward the white man under the Stars 
and Stripes. At one time Seth Paine’s men folks were all away from 
home for the night, leaving Mrs. Paine and two daughters alone. At 
nightfall two Indians came to the cabin and asked to stay all night. What 
to do they knew not, they expected the worst, to refuse they thought 
sure death, to flee they could not, for they had nowhere to go. They 
held a counsel and came to the conclusion to let them stay and abide 
the consequences. The Indians camped on the hearth before the fire, 
they did not want a bed. At a late hour the women retired to bed 
behind a blanket. In the night they were thrown into great excitement. 
The fire had burned down and it was dark. At that time the back log 
rolled over and a blaze sprang up, giving a bright light, and, peering 
from behind their blanket, they saw one of the Indians go to the side 
of the door, where he had left a kind of bark basket, stoop down, take 
out a large knife, then a long stone and carefully sharpen the knife. 
The women supposed their time had come and lay in breathless silence 
and suspense. Soon the Indian stooped again and took out a ham of 
venison, shaved off two or three slices and ate them, and then went 
back to the hearth and laid himself down. The women breathed easier. 
In the morning, before it was fairly light, the Indians left for parts 
unknown. 

Some incidents showing the danger from wild beasts will illustrate 
their menacing presence. In 1818, Miss Anna Green, while on her way 
on horseback from her home in Independence to that of Elisha Rice in 
Brecksville, had a thrilling escape. When she reached the top of Smith 
Hill, near the Chippewa Creek, a wild place even in later years, a panther’s 
scream woke the echoes near her and her horse broke into a wild run. As 
she neared the Rice home the family heard her coming and opened their 
door. Miss Green jumped to the ground and rushed in and the horse 
followed. The door was closed and barred just as the panther landed on 
the step. Mr. Rice ran upstairs, took an armful of straw and lighted it 
and this thrown at the beast frightened it away. “Aunt Tamar” Oakes, 
with two young children, went through the woods to a neighbor’s, Mrs. 
Edgerton s, about a mile away, to warp a piece of cloth. She was so late 
in returning home that a pack of wolves, with ever increasing numbers, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


51 


followed her, coming so near that she could hear their panting at every 
step. She hurried along, trying to determine which child to drop—Mary, 
the older, or Francis, the baby. Before the decision had been reached, 
rescue came in the form of the hired man, Alvin Cooley, with a gun, he 
having been sent out by Mr. Oakes. One time, when Alvin Waite went 
to mill, his wife was left alone over night with her sister-in-law, Mrs. 
John Waite, for company. They were aroused in the night by the squeal¬ 
ing of the pigs and immediately divined the cause. Mrs. Waite determined 
the bear should not carry off the pigs. She got the gun but found it 
empty. She had been told that three fingers of powder was a load, and 
loaded the gun accordingly. She discovered a bear, coming out of the 
pen with a pig, and fired. For some time after she knew no more, as the 
gun “kicked” so vigorously that she was left unconscious, but the pig was 
saved. The bear was wounded, as a trail of blood gave evidence, and we 
will assume as in the story for little boys, that he refrained from pigs ever 
afterwards. The guns of the settlers soon thinned the woods of dangerous 
wild animals, that were so numerous when they arrived. Mrs. William 
Me Wade told about the snow being tramped solid about their house by 
the wolves, and of seeing as many as 500 at one time. Various hunts 
were organized as residents came in sufficient numbers. One known as the 
Great Hinckley Hunt was organized at the home of Mrs. Seth Paine in 
December, 1818. The roundup was in Hinckley Township, Medina 
County. At the meeting to organize the hunt, Carey Oakes was appointed 
captain for Brecksville, John Ferris for Royalton, Judge John Newton for 
Richfield, and ’Squire Freyer for Brunswick. This day has become his¬ 
torical, the day of the great hunt. The posse of men under strict discipline, 
surrounded the township of Hinckley and gradually drew in the line until 
every animal either was killed or escaped through the firing line. The net 
result of the hunt amounted to the following in animals killed: Deer, 365 ; 
bear, 17; wolves, 5. 

In 1811 Lemuel Bourne came to Brecksville. He walked all the way 
from Savoy, Massachusetts, in about four weeks, a distance of some 600 
miles. He selected a site for his future home in the southern part of the 
township on what is now known as the Noble farm on the State Road, 
now daily passed by much traffic along the brick road to Akron, Ohio. 
The next year he returned to Massachusetts, walking back, and married 
Miss Delia Waite. He bought a horse, loaded his bride and such belong¬ 
ings as he could bring upon it, and walking by the side, started on their 
honeymoon journey to Brecksville, arriving in 1812. In the meantime 
Walter Waite had built a log house on property later known as the Steven¬ 
son farm. This was the second log house built in Brecksville, Seth Paine’s 
being the first. To this cabin Lemuel Bourne brought his bride. Miss 
Hattie Bourne, historian of the Brecksville Centennial, relates that the 
next morning after their arrival Mrs. Bourne “sat in the doorway getting 
a little acquainted with her new surroundings when she saw a rattlesnake 
basking in the sunshine a short distance away. Did she scream? Not she. 
She calmly got a weapon and killed it.” On the next New Year’s day 
Walter Waite helped Lemuel Bourne build his house. It was built without 
doors, and greased paper served for windows, and wooden pegs were used 
for nails. 

In 1811, also, Benona Brown, Samuel Wolcott, Almon Wolcott and 
Charles Wolcott, from Massachusetts, settled in the northeast part of the 
township, and Robert Donalson, Mr. Stanford and David Morton located 
in the southeast part. Donalson and Stanford came from Pennsylvania, 
and Morton from Massachusetts. To the little settlement this same year 
was added Eli and Bijah Bagley and Rufus Newell with their families. 



Moses Cleaveland’s Birthplace 

Better known to us as John Shea’s old house. 



Scene on Chippewa Creek, Brecksville 




THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


53 


These located west of the Center. In 1812, Edward Johnston and wife, 
with a family of four sons, settled in the east part in the valley of the 
Chippewa near the Cuyahoga. These boys were great hunters. William 
or “Bill” was once asked to relate some of his experiences at a pioneer 
meeting, which was largely devoted to reminiscences of the early days. 
The chairman said, “You have had lots of tussels with bears and Indians, 
and we want you to relate some of them.” “No,” said Bill, “I never had 
any tussels, I always shot to kill.” David McCrary and a Mr. Thompson 
came this year and located in the eastern part of the township near the 
Cuyahoga River, and Hosea Bradford, who settled on the farm known as 
the Rinear farm near the Center. These hardy first comers were not un¬ 
mindful of the dangers that might be encountered. The Indians were a 
menace, and a garrison was maintained at the house of Seth Paine of such 
strength as the sparsely settled country could maintain. The pioneers 
could distinctly hear the cannonading at the Battle of Lake Erie, and hur¬ 
ried to Paine’s. Lemuel Bourne for some reason stayed at home, and 
soon a man came to his house on horseback and said that Perry was 
whipped and that the settlers must flee for their lives to Hudson. Mr. 
Bourne carried the startling news to the gathering at Paine’s. The news 
caused a panic, and preparations were quickly made to leave. Paine had a 
horse and a yoke of oxen and a cart which was commandeered. Articles 
were hidden in the bushes. Mrs. Paine had some choice china, brought 
from the East. This she put in a kettle and buried. They traveled as 
far as Boston, Summit County, where there was quite a settlement and a 
block house, built of white oak logs. Here a counsel was held and it was 
decided to send to Cleveland and ascertain the truth or falsity of the report 
about Perry. John Waite volunteered to go. In the morning, as related 
by Uncle Ned Wilcox, they brought out the old horse, fed him some corn, 
and Mr. Waite mounted with his rifle in front and a flask in his pocket, 
containing a little something to drive off dull care, and started on his 
journey. Arriving at Newburgh, he met a man who said it was all a lie, 
that Perry was victorious. That would not do, he must not go back with¬ 
out accumulative evidence. He rode on to Cleveland, where the good news 
was confirmed, returned, and arrived in Boston about sunset of the same 
day. There was general rejoicing. All returned home at once, but Mrs. 
Paine never found her dishes. The romance of gossip has it that the 
place of concealment may have been mislocated and that they are still 
buried on the old Paine farm. 

From this time on new arrivals were numerous. Lemuel Hoadley 
built a gristmill at the Center on Chippewa Creek. This was a great boon 
as up to this time the nearest gristmills had been at Newburg and Hud¬ 
son, and many of the settlers crushed their grain for the family use in 
hollowed stones or stumps. Hosea Bradford opened a shoe shop at the 
Center, boot shop would be a better term. Bolter Colson, one of the 
early arrivals, was famous with the ax. It has been claimed for him that 
he felled more trees than any other man. He would start on a tree before 
the previous one reached the ground. He had five sons, Orrin, Chandler, 
Lyman, Thomas, and Newton. Some of the sons inherited their father’s 
liking for work in the woods. Newton and Thomas engaged in the timber 
business along with farming the most of.their lives. They were also clever 
hunters and were particularly good at hunting the wild turkey, achieving 
a reputation for their successes. Hard work did not keep Bolter Colson 
from preserving his strength. Until his death in 1878 at the age of ninety- 
three, his ax was his constant companion. 

As in the settlement of Bedford we note the large families. Aaron 
Rice and wife, who came in 1813, had seven sons and three daughters, 


54 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Aaron Barnes, who came in 1826, had six. There were two sons, Jesse 
and Giles. Jesse, who was prominent in later years in Brecksville as a 
merchant and public spirited citizen, once said that he never had a suit of 
clothes, until after he grew to manhood, that was not spun, woven and 
made for him by his mother. This faithful soul, Aunt Roxey Barnes, 
was nurse to the neighborhood. She created faith in her herb tea and 
watched by the sick as a neighborly kindness. 

We must mention among the early arrivals, Josiah Wilcox, wife and 
three sons, Moses Hunt, who came in 1833, married in 1834 Miss Erne- 
line Dewey, and located on the extreme southeastern farm of the town¬ 
ship; Russ Snow and Henry Snow with their families; Carey Oakes and 
family, whose first house was built of poles and bark, who was one of the 
captains of the Hinckley Hunt; Mrs. Mary Timmons and her son Tommy, 
who located on the river; Capt. John Dunbar, a soldier of 1812, with a 
large family; Andrew Dillow and family; Hugh Stevenson, who came in 
1831 and who married Elizabeth Holland, a cousin of Martin Van Buren, 
President of the United States; Ezra Wyatt, who built another gristmill 
and a sawmill; Ambrose and Ebba Wilcox, and Chauncey L. Young, who 
built mills; Isaac Packard, who kept the first tavern in a log house, where 
the Congregational Church now stands; and Thomas Allen and wife, 
Marana, with five sons and four daughters, William, Charles, Thomas, 
Frank, Sarah, Joe, Lottie and Mary, and May, who was the first postmas¬ 
ter of the town. Isaac Packard sold his tavern site to the trustees of the 
Congregational Church. There was controversy over the purchase, some 
of the members holding that it was unhallowed ground. Thomas Allen, 
while postmaster, received one mail a week. Of his eight children two 
are living, the twins, Mary and May. Mary is the wife of William Baxter 
Peck of Denver, Colorado, and May is Mrs. John Stewart of North Evans¬ 
ton, Chicago. 

Industrial Brecksville has been left behind by the march of events. 
At one time before 1840 there were several gristmills, four or five saw¬ 
mills, three distilleries and a tannery and barkmill on the Chippewa. Peter 
Goodell had a chair factory and cabinet shop, using the power of a small 
stream, and Jason Janes a woolen mill nearby that was known as the 
“spring mill.” Later at the Center “Al” Billings operated a harness shop, 
Robert Crossman and William McWade were rivals in the manufacture! 
of boots and shoes, and James Wyatt conducted a cheese factory. These 
small industries went out of business, being unable to compete with the 
larger manufacturing establishments in industrial centers, and the town¬ 
ship is, today, almost exclusively an agricultural community. 

Following the opening of the Ohio canal in 1826 the bilious fever 
raged fearfully and there were many deaths. Chester Waite was the first 
doctor in town. He built the first frame house on the public square. Dr. 
Isaac Morgan was the second. He came in 1818 and practiced until his 
death. Then followed Doctors Gibbs and Cleveland and then Dr. Wil¬ 
liam Knowlton, whose two sons, Augustus and William A. Knowlton, later 
adopted the same profession and practiced in the town, both becoming 
popular not only as physicians but as orators of unusual ability. Dr. Wil¬ 
liam Knowlton is still living in Cleveland. He married as his second wife 
Fannie Snow, who has achieved a .reputation as a musical composer. Dr. 
Edward Breck, also one of the sons of John Breck, after whom the town 
was named, practiced his profession in the town until his death in 1865. 
The present physicians are Dr. E. L. Bourne, grandson of Lemuel, and 
Dr. Theodore Breck, great-grandson of John Breck. 

An incident of local historical interest occurred in 1856, the Great 
Sleighride. This occurred in the month of March. It originated in 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


55 


Solon Township, which called on a neighboring town with seven four- 
horse teams and a banner flying, “Beat this if you can.” The story is 
aptly told in the following lines written by Mrs. Allen, then an old lady 
and a participant in the events narrated: 

The Great Sleighrides 

Come listen, young and old, to the story that is told 

Of our mammoth sleighride that came off so handy, O. 

I will tell you how it begun, likewise how the story run 
Old Medina boys for conquering are the dandy, O. 

The Solon boys, it seems, got up seven four-horse teams 
And had a sleighride that came off so handy, O, 

With a banner in the van, that said, “take me if you can,” 

But Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

Next Twinsburg boys are seen, driving fourteen four-horse teams, 
They’re going for the banner now so handy, O. 

And they bear the flag away, but alas it cannot stay, 

Old Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

Old Bedford in the field, and the banner now must yield, 

For their teams are counted thirty-four, so handy, O, 

But the Bedford boys can’t brag, they cannot keep the flag. 

Old Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

Now Northfield comes in sight, but their numbers are not right, 

And they cannot take the banner quite so handy, O, 
wSo they had to give up beat, and homeward did retreat 
But Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

Now Brecksville boys are there, and they take the banner fair, 

Their four-horse teams are fifty-four so handy, O, 

But ’tis only for a day, there are others in the play. 

Old Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

Old Royalton doth freight, four-horse teams just sixty-eight, 

With merry lads and lassies, all so handy, O, 

Oh, it is a glorious day, and the flag they bear away, 

But Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

Now Boston rallies round, their “canalers” beat the ground, 

A motley crew, that they’ve got up so handy, O, 

They go home without the flag, to get a new recruit of nags, 

But Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

My friends, oh do not grieve, you can hear their horses heave, 

As they come again to take the flag so handy, O. 

Some are blind and some are lame, the poor horses aren’t to blame, 

But Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

Old Boston turned out fine, four-horse teams they’d eighty-nine, 

And they bear the banner home, so neat and handy, O, 


56 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Old Boston got her will but the banner can’t be still. 

Old Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

One hundred fifty four-horse teams the banner bore, 

From Boston up to Richfield, all so handy, O. 

We will now reverse the case, for the county’s joined the race, 

Old Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

How the counties rally ’round, oh how sweet the music sounds, 

Cuyahoga and Medina are so handy, O, . „ 

Summit County played the swine. Said: “The banner shall be mine.” 
But Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

Four-horse teams oh what a string! and the merry bells do ring, 

The snow is deep, the roads are smooth and handy, O. 

All the teams if counted true, were four hundred sixty-two, 

But Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

It was March the eighteenth day, the Medina boys did say; 

“Come let us take the banner, ’tis so handy, O.” 

Nine hundred the amount, likewise twelve they didn’t count 
Old Medina boys will conquer—they’re the dandy, O. 

Into Akron now they pour, and the cannon loud doth roar, 

With bands of music playing neat and handy, O, 

And the banner we have won, that says, “take me if you can,” 

Hark! Medina boys have conquered—they’re the dandy, O. 

Mrs. Allen was a resident of Hinckley, Medina County, and in the 
concluding stanzas of this poem written to commemorate the Great Sleigh- 
rides she states that the banner is at the county seat of Medina County 
and dares any county, “when winter comes again,” to come and take it. 

Brecksvdle furnished eighty-eight soldiers in the Civil war, a number 
equal to hah he voting population. In no part of the country did the 
shots against Fort Sumpter awaken a more active remonstrance than in 
this little town, and soon men and boys were drilling and the town was 
like a camp. A little later the women gathered, almost without exception 
and they met daily and shipped dainties for the hospitals and picked lint 
to dress the wounds of the injured. The war song, “God bless the fingers 
picking lint,” called down a benediction upon many hands in Brecksville. 
Logan Post of the Grand Army of the Republic was organized January 
25, 1885, with fifteen charter members. L. D. Morse was the first com¬ 
mander. Among those who have served since are Harmon Rinear, 
Charles Stressing, J. R. Chaffee, O. P. Latimer, T. J. Rudgers, Calvin 
C. Hardin and J. F. Reinhardt. As in other places the Post has been 
the dominant and leading spirit in the Decoration Day exercises and in 
1890 a very elaborate series of exercises were brought about by their 
efforts. Only two of the commanders of Logan Post are now living. 

The first school in the township was taught by Oriana Paine at the 
Center and was attended by children from the families of Hoadley, 
Adams, Bradford and Waite. In 1826 there were three school districts. 
In District No. 1 Mrs. Aaron Rice was the first teacher and was to re¬ 
ceive as compensation the sum of $1 per week. She was then unmarried. 
The district being without funds and discovering that the lady contem¬ 
plated matrimony she was tendered as payment in full for her services. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


57 


which she accepted, three chairs, a bake kettle and a barrel of whiskey 
As an evidence of the thrift of the settlers it is related that in the Snow 
district at one time the schoolhouse burned down. A new one was erected 
with such expedition that fire from the burning embers of the old build¬ 
ing were taken to start the first fire in the new schoolhouse. 

From the three original school districts the number was increased, 
with the population, to nine, including the fractional districts. These 
were formed for the convenience of pupils and included factions of sev¬ 
eral townships. In one school in the southeast part of the township, pupils, 
at one time, attended from four townships and three counties. Some of 
these fractional district schools are still in operation but most of the 
schools in the sub-districts are abandoned and the pupils brought in busses 
to the one central graded and high school at the Center. This system, 
first advocated at county teachers’ institutes, has now become quite gen- 



The Indian Mound 

End of Chippewa Gorge, Glen Valley Club. Mound in Brecks- 
ville Township in the valley of the Chippewa Creek. This shows 
evidence of being man-made but has never been explored. 

eral, replacing the “little red schoolhouse.” Among the very early teach¬ 
ers, who taught in the district schools of Brecksville, were Calvin Oakes, 
Johnson Patrick, Bene Butler, William Warren (father of Warren of 
the Ohio Criminal Code), Amy Jenkins, Anson Leonard, Eleanor Coates, 
Abigail Cushman, and Maria Storrs. 

The religious sentiment of Brecksville from its earliest history has 
found expression through two churches, the Congregational and the Meth¬ 
odist Episcopal. The Congregational Church has been, however, Presby¬ 
terian during a portion of its history. On the 13th of July, 1816, 
Rev. William Hanford, a missionary from Hudson, Ohio, formed an 
organization at the home of Esquire Bradford. A church was organized 
with thirteen members, John Adams, Lemuel Hoadley, Chloe, his wife, 
John Waite, Bolter Colson, Harriet, his wife, Hannah Payne, Lyman J. 
Frost, Oriana Payne, Zilpha Waite, Lucy Wilcox, James Dixon, and 
Mary, his wife. “The churck was formed under that peculiar ecclesiastical 




58 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


system known on the Reserve as the Plan of Union. This was a measure 
originated by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church and 
adopted by the General Association of Connecticut, for the purpose of 
promoting unity and harmony among the churches in new settlements. 
January 4, 1817, the church placed itself under the care of the Grand 
River Presbytery. In 1854 it voted to become an independent Congre¬ 
gational Church. In 1874, under the pastorate of Rev. I. McK. Pittenger 
and the urgent solicitation of Rev. H. H. Wells, evangelist, it became 
Presbyterian, joining the Cleveland Presbytery. Reverend Pittenger was 
shortly after chosen presiding elder of said organization. In 1889, the 
church again decided to become Congregational and joined the Cleveland 
Congregational Conference. Since this time it has been identified with 
that organization as a Congregational Church. In 1841 it installed its 
first regular pastor, Rev. Newton Barrett. During his ministry the pres¬ 
ent church edifice was built. The money was raised by the sale of pews, 
the bell being given by the Brecks in compliance with a promise made 
when the town was named. Among the early ministers have been 
Rev. Joseph Breck, Rev. Chester Chapin, Rev. Newton Barrett, Rev. 
Thomas Towler and Rev. G. C. Reed. 

The first meeting, that finally developed into the organization of the 
Brecksville Methodist Episcopal Church, was held at the residence of 
Lemuel Bourne prior to 1823. In 1832 the present church structure was 
built on the north side of the public square, facing the Congregational 
Church building on the south side of the square. Until 1853 the church 
was lighted by tallow candles in tin reflectors on the walls. Then an 
agitation began for lamps, and one man, an outsider, sent word that he 
would sell a cow to defray the expense if necessary. This spurred up 
the project, and the new lighting was installed without the sale of the 
cow. Those who sit today on velvet under electric lights will hardly 
realize the sacrifices of those, who built the first fires and tried to imitate 
the life of the first teachers. In 1824 Rev. Solomon Minwaer and 
Rev. John Pardo were circuit pastors. Each received $100 per year, salary. 
Among those who have served the church, either as circuit or regular 
pastors are Rev. Moses B. Mead, Rev. I. W. Dwyer, Rev. A. R. Palmer, 
Rev. T. D. Stevie, Rev. E. H. Bush, Rev. C. F. Irish, Rev. J. R. Car¬ 
penter and Reverend Pollock, afterwards presiding elder. 

We have said Brecksville is an agricultural community. In April, 1876, 
Union Grange was organized. The first officers were: Hollis Barr, mas¬ 
ter; C. T. Canfield, overseer; O. O. Spafford, lecturer; H. C. Wilcox, 
secretary; David Bratton, treasurer, and C. C. Hannum, chorister. The 
Grange bought groceries, hardware and farming tools at a saving to the 
farmers. A. A. Butler was purchasing agent. This organization was 
allowed to lapse and in the year 1891 it was reorganized and again dis¬ 
banded. In March, 1903, Brecksville Grange was organized as a new 
lodge, with H. T. Bratton as master; C. H. Miller, overseer; L. H. Rust, 
secretary, and J. E. McCreery, treasurer. 

The annual fairs in the ’40s and later were interesting occasions. In 
this new community, united as it was by such close ties of neighborly fra¬ 
ternity, these annual events became occasions of great interest. Everybody 
exhibited and everybody rejoiced in the premiums awarded, wherever be¬ 
stowed. It was a gala day for young and old. These fairs became of 
practical advantage aside from the question of recreation. Methods of 
plant culture were discussed as well as the breeding of domestic animals. 
They were agricultural institutes. The young people made more of the 
day than the rest, for with them it must close with a dance at the Town 
Hall, and the young men utilized the occasion in securing their respective 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


59 


girls for that occasion. The writer has in his possession a premium cer¬ 
tificate of the Brecksville Fair, held in 1848, awarding a premium to John 
Coates for the best specimen of pumpkins. This was signed by Edmund 
Bartlette as president and Theodore Breck, secretary of the Brecksville 
Agricultural Society. These fairs were abandoned about the time of the 
Civil war. 

An Odd Fellows lodge has existed in Brecksville since 1878. It was 
organized on July 10th of that year with the following charter members: 
Capt. M. I. Morgan, Dr. W. A. Knowlton, E. L. Hannum, A. A. Butler, 
A. K. Skeels, M. D. McNaughton, Clifford Edgerton, G. E. Ploss, A. C. 
Rice, John Rooks, James King, Homer Barnes, W. F. Dillow, S. D. Sher¬ 
wood, C. T. Canfield, R. E. Garrity, O. O. Spafford, and A. J. Snow. 
Thirty-six additional members were taken in as members during the year. 
In 1879 the lodge built a hall on the south side of the square, which was 
dedicated December 31st of that year. 

We have referred to the distilleries as among the early industries of 
the township. From their establishment one street leading east from the 
State Road to the Cuyahoga River was named Whiskey Lane. In later 
years an effort has been made to change the name but it remains, and is 
more permanent than the sentiment in regard to the commodity. In 1850 
a wave of temperance agitation struck the town. A meeting was held 
“upstairs in the Breck Building” to form a temperance society. From 
this meeting was organized Chippewa Lodge of Good Templars. This 
lodge became a popular organization, grew in numbers and held regular 
meetings quite largely attended. It continued in existence for many years 
and until the town became free from the liquor traffic, under the local 
option law. Among those active in the lodge were J. J. Barnes, C. O. Bart¬ 
lett, Karl Snow, Ed Phelps, Lucian Payne, Julia Me Wade, Newton 
Oakes, Elwin Carter, Mrs. James Coates and Mrs. Harriet Dunbar. 

We have stated that Brecksville was organized in 1814. The election 
resulted as follows: Trustees, Lemuel Hoadley, John Adams and Eli 
Bagley; township clerk, John Wait; justices of the peace, John Wait and 
Eli Bagley. These were the first officers. At the second election held at 
the home of Eli Bagley April 3, 1815, the following officers were elected: 
Trustees, Aaron Rice, Lemuel Hoadley and Edward Johnson; clerk, John 
Wait; treasurer, John Adams; constable and lister (assessor), Ebenezer 
Rice; poormasters, Hoses Bradford and Aaron Rice; fence viewers, Eben¬ 
ezer Rice, Walter Wait and Hubert Baker; road supervisors, Lemuel 
Bourne, Hosea Bradford, Hubert Baker and Ebenezer Rice. Charles Wol¬ 
cott, previously elected constable and who refused to serve, was fined $2, 
which money was applied towards a township book. The original records 
show that Seth Paine’s heirs sold a stray ox for $25.75, and that the 
charge for keeping was $12.00; that a settlement had been made with 
Lemuel Hoadley (probably for road work) for $3.75, leaving a balance 
in the treasury of $12. This was added to the record: “a very fine show¬ 
ing indeed.” The trustees at the March meeting in 1816 chose Aaron 
Rice, Eli Bagley and John Wait, grand jurors, and Silas Rice and Charles 
Wolcott, petit jurors. At a meeting in November, 1917, the overseers of 
the poor directed the constable to order Hubert Baker to depart from the 
township without delay. The writ was served and a fee of 37cents 
charged by the constable. In this year fifteen persons were thus ordered 
to leave the township to prevent them from becoming a public charge. 

The present trustees of the township are Joseph Vyrostek, George 
Ellsworth and Milton Snow; clerk, Carl Burtscher; treasurer, E. E. 
Wiese; road superintendent, Norris Starr. Among those who have served 
the township for long periods of time are Trustees Julius White, Hoi- 


60 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


land Snow, John Fitzwater, Ira Fitzwater, and Burr Van Noate. James 
H. Coates as treasurer, and Charles S. Burt as clerk, served in their re¬ 
spective offices continuously for over thirty years. Charles B. Rich, John 
Coates, Lewis Rust, Moses Hunt and A. K. Skeels each held the office 
of justice of the peace for long periods. 

The ultimate passing of the township is foreshadowed in that Decem¬ 
ber 20, 1921, the Village of Brecksville was formed. It embraces in its 
confines a large portion of the original township. Its officers are: Mayor, 
Burt Harris; clerk, Hugh Ellsworth; treasurer, E. E. Wiese; marshal, 
J. T. Taul; council, H. T. Bratton, Frank McCreery, Ben Metzger, Earl 
Rinear, E. W. Rudgers and H. W. Snow. Among the first acts of the 
village officers was to set in motion the necessary proceedure for securing 
electric lights in the village, by authorizing a bond issue of $50,000, which 
was voted upon at a special election held February 28, 1922, and carried 
by a vote of 214 in favor and 33 against, the lighting to be under con¬ 
tract with the Cleveland Illuminating Company. An application was made 
to the county commissioners in 1922 to incorporate the remaining territory 
of the township in the village, thus dispensing with the township organ¬ 
ization, but it has not been accomplished. 

The early history of Brecksville is replete with interesting anecdotes. 
Tom Fitzwater for years played the fiddle for dances and was much in 
demand. His fiddle box was homemade and resembled a child’s coffin. 
One morning after an all night performance at a dance in which calling 
off was included as his function in connection with the harmony produced 
for the occasion, tired and sleepy, his faithful fiddle under his arm, he was 
“footing it” homeward. His route took him along the tow-path of the 
canal. Just as the first dim twilight of the morning appeared, he passed 
the cabin of “Widow Falkner,” an aged eccentric character, who lived in a 
lonely part of the valley. She looked out of the window at the apparition, 
spied the fiddle box, scented a tragedy, and then with piercing shrieks ex¬ 
claimed over and over: “Oh my God what a wretch!” Long afterward 
Tom was greeted in the store and the blacksmith shop and on the street 
with “Oh my God what a wretch!” It was suggested that the widow re¬ 
ferred to his performances on the fiddle. 

Julius Hannum (“Jule”) was a practical joker and the life of many 
occasions. In the days of the Underground Railroad, Carey Oakes had a 
station at his house. He was strong in his anti-slavery views and harbored 
escaped slaves and helped them on to Canada. It was his practice to feed 
and lodge them and as he sent them on to another station, give each one 
a dollar with his blessing. Jule Hannum blacked up, palmed himself off 
as a runaway slave and chuckled home with his dollar and his blessing. 
It is not recorded whether he finally returned the dollar to “Uncle Carey,” 
but the story got out, being too good to keep. 

Brecksville was a whig town and a strong supporter of General Har¬ 
rison in the days of the log cabin, hard cider campaign. At a great polit¬ 
ical rally in the interest of Harrison some one put ipecac in the barrel of 
cider provided for the occasion. The perpetrator of this act was never 
found out, but it was generally attributed to John Breck, who later was 
a strong whig supporter, perhaps by way of atonement. The incident is 
related in the following lines, which were read before a meeting of The 
Early Settlers’ Association in Cleveland: 

The news got dull in harvest time, 

Most all the reg’lar things were closed, 

But still serene, in numbers full, 

We loafers by the counter dozed. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


61 


Well back in eighteen forty’s time 
Sim Joynton turned the evening talk, 

To when, in presidential year, 

A campaign took a sudden balk. 

Brecksville was strong for Harrison, 

Van’s followers were few but set, 

Watching the Tipp and Tyler band 
With vigils we remember yet. 

A final rally had been planned 
To sweep the opposition in 
And leave Van Buren’s following 
Too dead presumably to skin. 

Brecksville was bright on rally night. 

The campaign cider barrel stood 
Convenient by the cabin door, 

Built up of mammoth logs of wood. 

And followers of Harrison, 

Each true and faithful, stalwart whig, 

Considering the country’s weal, 

Was asked and urged to take a swig. 

Around the borders of the crowd 
The opposition forces strolled 
As if they contemplated soon 

To join the Tipp and Tyler fold. 

Their interest, it seems, was this: 

To see how worked the ipecac 
They’d put into the cider there 
When Dr. Morgan turned his back. 

The meeting grew in magnitude, 

And time for speaking drew apace, 

Enthusiasm mounted high 
Illumining each patriot face. 

Oh world, thy slippery turns! the whigs, 

Who’d worked to throw Van Buren down, 

Began with unanimity, 

A throwing up, disgracing town. 

With faces pale the patriots drooped, 

The ipecac had sovereign sway, 

The rally faded into naught, 

As fades the glimmering light of day. 

The old man mused: It’s seventy years, 

But mem’ry canters easy back 
To that campaign in forty, when 
We dosed the whigs with ipecac. 

Brecksville has produced many of prominence in various walks, of life, 
who have gone out into fields of usefulness. The most noted I will men- 


62 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


tion first, Prof. John N. Stockwell. His biography appears in another 
volume of this history. At the time of his death, May 18, 1920, at the 
advanced age of eighty-nine, he was regarded as one of the foremost 
philosophers and the dean of American astronomers. Gus Heege, who 
entertained the pupils of the district school as a barefoot boy, with various 
unusual performances, and who achieved fame and fortune in the char¬ 
acter of Yon Yonson on the stage, should be mentioned. Florence Morse 
(Kingsley), a small child, when her father and mother taught the higher 
and lower school in the Center district, famous as a writer of books and 
as an editor of the Ladies Home Journal, deserves special mention. 
John Wilcox, a successful teacher in the Brecksville schools, sheriff of 
the county, and at the time of his death, editor of the Cleveland Press; 
Frank Wilcox, who refused public office, likewise a successful teacher in 
the Brecksville schools before he engaged in the practice of law in Cleve¬ 
land, obtaining an enviable position at the bar. Among the earlier gen¬ 
erations, Theodore Breck, who served in the State Senate, as county 
commissioner, and in other positions of trust, enlarges the list of those 
who have added greatly to the interest attached to the history of Brecks¬ 
ville. Frank Skeels, who was police prosecutor in Cleveland and a lawyer 
of standing, and Arthur Skeels, a civil engineer of note, both sons of A. K. 
*Skeels, who served for many years as justice of the peace, made most 
creditable records. E. J. Phelps (Ed), prominent in the civic affairs of 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, always kept up an active interest in the days 
when he taught school in his native town of Brecksville. Dr. W. A. 
Knowlton, physician of Brecksville for many years, platform orator of 
more than local fame, at one time president of the Cleveland Medical As¬ 
sociation, now at an advanced age, his wife, Fannie Snow Knowlton, 
musician and composer, were long identified with the town’s activities. 

The centennial of the first settlement was celebrated in 1911. This 
occasion was made interesting by the presence of a large number of former 
residents, who came from all parts of the land. Its inception came from 
the Brecksville Association, an organization of former residents that held 
its meetings in Cleveland for many years. At this centennial Hon. Paul 
Howland was the orator of the day. A boulder, product of the Glacial 
Age, which had been placed in the public square, was dedicated, com¬ 
memorative of the first settlement. 


CHAPTER VII 


BROOKLYN 

Before it had a name this township was No. 7 of range 13. It orig¬ 
inally included all that part of the present City of Cleveland known as 
the west side. When organized as a township and christened with a 
name, its northern boundary was Lake Erie, its eastern the Cuyahoga 
River, its southern was Parma and Independence and its western boundary 
was Rockport. Like Cleveland Township it was a lake port. It was 

separated from Cleveland and Newburgh by the Cuyahoga River and 

the branches of that stream which flowed through its territory were ex¬ 
tremely valuable as furnishing mill sites and power. In the division 
of the Western Reserve the greater part of Brooklyn fell to Samuel P. 
Lord and Josiah Barber. From these men the original settlers bought 
their land. Samuel P. Lord purchased originally from the Connecticut 
Land Company this tract for $14,092, as shown by the records. The 

date of this transaction was September 5, 1795. Apparently Barber, a 

brother-in-law, was taken in on the deal later. The land company divided 
up by agreement all its holdings among its members in various quantities, 
for various amounts. The largest sum paid being $168,185, for a tract, 
by one Oliver Phelps. Brooklyn was primarily the Lord and Barber 
allotment. 

A grassy slope overlooking the Cuyahoga River from Riverside Ceme¬ 
tery, and known as Granger Hill, is the spot where the first white 
man settled. Granger was a “squatter” from Canada. The date of his 
coming is not known. The term “squatter” should be defined for the 
information of some, who may not understand. The term is used to 
define one who enters upon land without legal authority, who lives upon 
land not his own, particularly new land, without title. Granger was 
there in May, 1812, when James Fish came as the first permanent white 
settler. The Grangers and a son, Samuel, remained until 1915, when 
they sold their loose property to Asa Brainard and migrated to the 
Maumee Valley. Our interest centers, of course, in the first permanent 
settlers. In men and their achievements everywhere all history centers. 
Kipling, master of so many forms of expression, puts it in this simple 
way: “History, rightly understood, means the love of one’s fellow men 
and the land one lives in.” James Fish came from Croton, Connecticut, 
having purchased a tract of land from Lord and Barber. From there 
in 1811 with an ox team and a lumber wagon, in which rode himself, 
his three children, his wife and her mother, he set out for the “Far West.” 
He came with a large party of pioneers destined for the Western Reserve. 
The only ones besides his family who were headed for this township 
were his two cousins, Moses and Ebenezer Fish, Ebenezer making the 
entire journey on foot. They arrived in Cleveland early in the fall, 
having made the journey in forty-seven days. James Fish decided to 
stop for the winter in Newburgh, while Ebenezer and Moses remained 
in Cleveland. Early in the spring of 1812, James built a log house on 
his property, walking back and forth each day from Newburgh while 
so engaged, a distance of five miles. This house cost him, exclusive 

68 


64 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


of his labor, just $18, and in May of that year he moved the family 
into the new home. Their log cabin was, like others, a rude structure, 
and its furniture was in keeping with the dwelling. The bedstead, for 
there was only one at first, was made by Mr. Fish of roughly hewn 
limbs and saplings fastened with wooden pins, and instead of a bedcord 
there was a network of strips of bark. This bedstead is still in the 
possession of his descendants. In this first home in the wilderness of 
Brooklyn on May 9, 1814, a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Fish, Isaiah W. 
Fish, the first white child born in Brooklyn. 

The man who fires the first shot in a great war and he who leads 
in a conquest of peace is always an object of interest, and as we write 
of Brooklyn something of the family of James Fish, the first settler, 
and of his son Isaiah W., the first white child born in the township, 
comes to mind. We go back to John Fish, who immigrated from England 
and settled in Connecticut. His son was Capt. Samuel Fish. The son 
of Captain Samuel was Capt. John Fish. The son of Captain John was 
Joseph Fish, father of James Fish, the first settler of Brooklyn and grand¬ 
father of Isaiah W., the first white child born in Brooklyn. These titles 
of captain indicate leadership. James Fish, before coming to Brooklyn, 
married Mary Wilcox, daughter of Elisha Wilcox of Stonington, Con¬ 
necticut, and they had eight children, just a fair number as pioneer 
families were rated. Mary, James, Elisha and Sally were born in Con¬ 
necticut and Isaiah W., Lydia K., Joseph L. and John P. were born 
in Brooklyn. This first settler died in September, 1875, at the ripe old 
age of ninety-two. Isaiah W. married in 1837 Matilda Gates, who gave 
him three children, Lucy A., Charles and Buel B. The mother died in 
1850. As his second wife Isaiah married Mary A. More of East Cleve¬ 
land, by whom he had three children, Mary M., Louisa S. and James. 

The first Brooklyn settler had a farm but no money, and while clear¬ 
ing and planting he also worked by the day for farmers in Newburgh 
to keep the wolf from the door. This is speaking figuratively, for his 
faithful flint-lock kept the actual wolf from the door. He received 50 
cents per day and the day’s work was not limited to eight hours. His 
wife, also, besides the housework, earned for the family support by weaving 
coverlids, which sold for a goodly sum. She found the sale' so good 
that she was unable to supply the demand. Besides being a good hunter 
of wild beasts, Mr. Fish was a hunter in another way and expended 
every effort to rid the new country of rattlesnakes. It is related of one 
of his farm hands that at one time having a narrow escape from a 
rattler, he exclaimed: “What a smart thing it was in God Almighty 
to put bells on them things.” 

Ebenezer and Moses Fish, who came with James from the East, 
settled upon eighty acres of land in Brooklyn in 1812. Ebenezer located 
on the north side of what is now Denison Avenue and Moses on the 
south side. Neither was then married. Their activity in clearing and 
planting their land was not lessened by the prospect before them of 
marriage, a home and family. Both worked hard, living together in a 
log house or shanty, which was on the land of Ebenezer. Being single 
they were thus more available for military service. Ebenezer was one 
of the militiamen who guarded Omic, the Indian who was hung in Cleve¬ 
land in 1812. Both served in the forces called to guard the frontier 
during the first year of the War of 1812. Moses was drafted into the 
regular service, but not being very strong Ebenezer went in his stead 
and served six months, taking part in an engagement at Mackinaw Island. 
Returning, he and Moses took up again together their pioneer work 
of reclaiming the wilderness. When this work had progressed satisfac- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


65 


torily Ebenezer returned to Connecticut, where he married, and six years 
later returned to Brooklyn. In the meantime Moses had married, finding 
a wife to his liking here. Both raised large families. Of the children 
of Moses, Oziah and Lorenzo, both having families, resided in Brooklyn 
during their lifetime. 

We are now to speak of the Brainards. It is impossible to write an 
authentic history of Brooklyn without giving considerable space to the 
Fishes and Brainards. The writer inspected an original poll sheet of 
an election held in Brooklyn in the early days and with two exceptions 
the list contained only Fishes and Brainards. At one time the town¬ 
ship was populated exclusively by Fishes and Brainards. It was a 
saying in Cleveland in those days that a visitor to Brooklyn would first 
meet either a Fish or a Brainard, as the case might be. 

In 1813 the Brainards came in augmented numbers. Oziah Brainard 
with four grown daughters and four grown sons came. The sons were 
named Oziah, Jr., Timothy, Ira and Bethuel, of whom Oziah, Jr., and 
Ira had families. They settled on what is now Denison Avenue and 
all resided in Brooklyn during life. Oziah Brainard, Jr., built the first 
frame dwelling in Brooklyn and Asa, his son, raised the first frame barn. 
Its erection in 1818 was the occasion of one of those hilarious raisings 
that became common in pioneer days. These occasions, so frequent in 
those days, were unique in that they combined with hard labor a recre¬ 
ation that lightened the burden of pioneer life. Asa Brainard also built 
the first brick house in the township at what is now the corner of 
Scranton Avenue and Columbus Street. Llere he opened the first tavern 
in 1825. In 1814 the little settlement of Brooklyn was augmented by 
the arrival of six families from Chatham, Connecticut, comprising forty 
persons. The heads of these families were Isaac Hinckley, Asa Brainard, 
Elijah Young, Stephen Brainard, Enos Brainard and Warren Brainard. 
These men traded their farms in Connecticut with Lord and Barber for 
land in Brooklyn, then a part of the Township of Cleveland. The terms 
of the trade are not recorded, but as told in the local history compiled 
by Crisfield Johnson in 1879: “All set out for that unknown land on 
the same day. The train consisted of six wagons drawn by ten horses 
and six oxen and all journied together until Euclid was reached (forty 
days after leaving Chatham, Connecticut), where Mr. Hinckley rested 
with his family while the others pushed on to Brooklyn, whither he 
followed them within a week. 

It appears that the trustees of the Township of Cleveland, to which 
the territory of Brooklyn then belonged, became alarmed at the avalanche 
of immigrants just described, and concluding that they were a band of 
paupers for whose support the township would be taxed started a con¬ 
stable across the river to warn the invaders out of town. Alonzo Carter, 
a resident of Cleveland, heard of the move and stopped it, endorsing 
the good standing of the newcomers—adding that the alleged paupers 
were worth more money than all of the trustees of Cleveland combined.” 

Isaac Hinckley settled with his family in the southwest part of the 
township, on what is now the Schaaf Road, in the heart of a thick forest, 
“a mile from anybody,” as one expressed it. The first table that was 
used was made by Mr. Hinckley out of an ash tree. He owned 360 
acres of land but had no money to buy flour for the family. He offered 
to mortgage 100 acres for a barrel of flour. The Newburgh miller pre¬ 
ferred the flour to the chance of getting the land, and refused. Flour 
was a commodity that sold readily, but land was a drug on the market. 
Mr. Hinckley and his family managed to live notwithstanding thejack 
of flour at the first. He lived on the farm until his death in 1851 at 



Map of Cuyahoga County. Published in 1826 









THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


67 


the age of seventy-eight. Asa Brainard located near the site of the 
present City Hospital of Cleveland on Scranton Road, and Stephen 
Brainard near there. Amos and Jedediah Brainard and a cousin, Jabin, 
came from Connecticut in 1814. Jedediah, an old man of seventy, died 
on the way from the hardships of the journey, but Sylvanus, a married 
son, who had a family of his own, took charge and the survivors continued 
the journey to Brooklyn. 

Amos located on 300 acres in the south part of the township and 
Sylvanus and Jabin nearby. Amos had three sons and one daughter, 
Amos B., William, Demas and Philena. These settlements were made 
in 1818. George and Thomas Aikens, brothers of Mrs. Amos Brainard, 
came later. Diodate Clark, who came from Connecticut in 1815, was 
the first male school teacher in Brooklyn. James Sears came in 1817. 
Jeremiah Gates, originally from Connecticut but later a resident of Delhi, 
New York, was an early settler. In 1816 he walked all the way to 
Brooklyn and examined the prospect here. Satisfied with the outlook, 
he walked back to Delhi and got married. The lure of the woods in 
the West and the lure of the girl in the East must have been compelling, 
for he made the roundtrip journey in six weeks. After his marriage, 
taking his brother Nathaniel into the party, he returned with his bride 
by an easier way to reach the promised land. They were driven with 
horse and wagon to Buffalo, where they took a sail vessel for Cleveland. 
In 1819 Jeremiah and Nathaniel built a sawmill at a point later known 
as the five-mile lock on the Ohio Canal. The first sawmill was built 
by Philo Scoville in 1817 on Mill Creek some distance west of the 
present Brooklyn bridge. About that time a gristmill and other saw¬ 
mills added to the industrial upbuilding of the new territory. 

The promoters of the colonization of Brooklyn, Richard and Samuel 
Lord, and Josiah Barber, came as permanent settlers in 1818 and selected 
the northeastern part of the township for residence, near the mouth of 
the Cuyahoga. A small volume in the county clerk’s office in Cleveland 
includes two records once required by law, a record of free Negroes and 
of wolf scalps, for which bounties were paid under the state law. The 
records in the first half of the book are under the caption, “Record of 
Black and Mulatto Free Persons,” and show that from July 24, 1832, to 
July 27, 1837, the period covered by the book, 401 free Negroes were 
registered in this county. It seems that this provision was necessary 
to prevent such persons from being otherwise carried south to slavery. 
The first name in the book is that of Thornton Kinney, who is described 
as being light colored, five feet nine and one-half inches tall, twentv-one 
years old, with a scar on the forehead. He was registered in 1832. He 
was transferred to the free list of Chicago, Illinois, but came back to 
Cuyahoga County July 27, 1837, when he was again registered, but under 
the name of John Kinney. The last person registered, number 401, is 
Jesse Burwell, “About forty-nine years old, with a scar on the forehead 
and another above the left eye.” The date of registration is March 15, 
1834. The record of wolf scalps in the second part of the book, kept 
under the law which provided a bounty of $4.25 to be paid by the state 
upon receiving a warrant from the county clerk showing that the wolf 
scalp had been delivered at his office, began in 1838. The book shows 
that bounties on nine wolf scalps had been paid. The last entry is for a 
wolf shot in Brooklyn Township by Epaphras Barber, Jr., September 
12, 1846. This wolf was shot near what is now the western terminus 
•of the Superior Street viaduct. Epaphras Barber, Jr., was the grandson 
of Josiah Barber, who figures so largely on the pages of Cleveland’s early 

Vol. 1—3 


68 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


history, a history in its early stages so closely identified with the Township 
of Brooklyn. 

Edwin and William Foote were early arrivals in the new township. 
Ansel P. Smith came from Connecticut in 1830 and set up the first wagon 
shop, later in company with Timothy Standard, an old sea captain, he 
opened the first store in Brooklyn, just north of the present Brooklyn 
bridge. John Thorne, a Frenchman, had the first blacksmith shop in 
town. In this distinction he must share the honors with Asa Ackley, 
a miller, who opened a blacksmith shop on Walworth Run in 1814. 

As the population increased from the first settlement in a geometric 
ratio, it becomes impossible in the limits of this history to mention only 
the very early arrivals. These, however, are most interesting in Brook¬ 
lyn, as they and their descendants remained, perhaps in a larger per¬ 
centage than those of any other part of the county as fixed inhabitants. 
As the forest trees gave way to productive farms and gardens, the family 
trees remained, so unlike the savage nomads who preceded them. These 
names will be recognized as ancestral by a multitude of the present resi¬ 
dents of Brooklyn and Cuyahoga County. 

Brooklyn Township was organized in 1818 and originally contained 
all of the territory of Cleveland west of the river excepting a farm owned 
by Alfred Kelly. When the meeting to organize was held, Capt. Oziah 
Brainard proposed the name of Egypt “because, like Egypt, so much 
corn was raised here,” but his name was rejected and after considerable 
discussion the name Brooklyn was adopted, not, as was averred, to honor 
Brooklyn, New York, but because the name “sounded well.” As the 
records were destroyed by fire, the names of the first officers cannot be 
ascertained. Out of this territory brought under the township organiza¬ 
tion in 1818 have developed many municipalities, which have grown in 
wealth and power to be finally turned over to Greater Cleveland. Ohio 
City, West Cleveland, Brooklyn Village, South Brooklyn or Brighton 
have been formed from its territory, developed and annexed to Cleveland, 
Lindale and Brooklyn Heights Village, so formed, still exist as separate 
municipalities, and yet the passing of Brooklyn Township is not vet 
completed, in small acrea it still exists. A portion of the original terri¬ 
tory, in the southeast corner, constitutes the present township. The 
officers are George J. Robinson, F. O. Wittich, H. W. Bredenbeck, trus¬ 
tees; U. G. James, clerk; F. H. Vogel, treasurer; August Lang, assessor; 
Charles Brenner, justice of the peace, and Robert Lainge, constable. 

Before leaving the subject of the original township to discuss, in brief, 
the municipalities that have been formed from its territory, an incident 
in connection with the Battle of Lake Erie, showing how vital to their 
welfare the settlers deemed the success of Commodore Perry in that 
battle, may be of interest. At the time of the battle James Fish was 
cutting logs on his farm and the roar of the cannon could be distinctly 
heard. Thinking of the possible result and how they would lose their 
hard earned homesteads should victory be against Perry, he became so 
nervous that he quit work and entered the cabin where the women were 
engaged in household duties. They knew, nothing of the desperate con¬ 
test that was raging so close to them and exclaimed: “How it does 
thunder!” “Yes,” replied Fish, “but it’s home-made thunder.” 

At some time in our history, and this may be an appropriate time, we 
wish to digress for a little and speak of a characteristic feature of nearly 
all histories, particularly those that treat of pioneer life. Most of these 
histories are written by men and seemingly they have been somewhat 
partial to their own sex, giving women a subordinate place. Now that 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


69 


women are dividing public honors with the men and carrying the burdens 
that go with public duties this becomes more noticeable. 

It is true, however, that these writers of history have consistently 
exalted the home and the fireside, its compelling incentive to duty, due 
to the genius, the faithfulness and patient care of woman. They have 
cited instances of heroism under trial of women as well as men. Pioneer 
history embracing so much of family geneaology does seem to feature 
the male in large proportion. This may be due to the descent of the 
family name, the woman losing her name in that of her husband, and he 
as head of the family getting the lion’s share of the publicity. John 
Smith, or to be still more comprehensive, John Smith, and family, settled 
at such a place and on such a date. John Smith could not have cleared 
and transformed the wilderness into fields of productive beauty without 
he was clothed and fed, cared for in sickness and cheered in his lonely 
hours. The woman who shared his hardships, bore his children and 
worked as industriously, did a part in the upbuilding of the country as 
important as the man, but her name does not appear so frequently on 
the pages of history. There is a seeming injustice in this. Something 
of this thought must have been in the mind of Harried Taylor Upton, 
who in her comprehensive history of the Western Reserve and in its 
opening chapter says: “The spirit of all colonization by nations is com¬ 
mercial, the development of all unoccupied territory by companies or in¬ 
dividuals is also commercial. Men laughed at Columbus when he tried 
to make them see that the nation which financed his expedition would 
become rich and powerful. Columbus utterly failed with men and turned 
to a woman, a queen. It is true he told her of the eastern gold, which 
would be hers, and of the fame which would come to Spain, but he dwelt 
at great length on the opportunities that would come to her of planting 
her religion in a new world. History tells us that because of her devo¬ 
tion to her church she raised the necessary funds by the sale of her 
jewels.” Isabella was a queen and history has given her the full measure 
of credit for her progressive devotion and foresight. The queens of the 
households of the pioneers should have their rightful place in history. 

Brooklyn Township, as we have said, raised up municipalities only 
to have them swallowed up by Greater Cleveland. The first city in 
Cuyahoga County was formed from the township and for a time had an 
active existence. Ohio City was organized in the same year as the City 
of Cleveland, but before the organization of the latter. There was rivalry 
in this and the rivalry continued. Like that of Minneapolis and St. Paul 
and San Francisco and Los Angeles the rivalry at times became very 
bitter. Adam Bede illustrating the rivalry of the Minnesota cities relates 
that at one time a resident of St. Paul strayed oyer into Minneapolis, 
got into an altercation with an Irishman, and was killed. The Irishman, 
a Minneapolis citizen, knowing that concealment was impossible decided 
to give himself up. He sought out the sheriff of his county, related the 
incidents of the fight resulting in the death of the visitor from St. Paul, 
whom he designated as a Swede, and said he had come to give himself 
up for the crime. “What did you come to me for?” asked the sheriff. 
“Go over to the courthouse and get your bounty.” The rivalry between 
Ohio City on the west side and Cleveland on the east side became very 
real. This feeling of rivalry developed into a settled feeling of envy 
on the part of the west siders, which remained after the union of Ohio 
City and Cleveland carried Greater Cleveland across the Cuyahoga. 

As we have said, Samuel Lord and Josiah Barber in 1818 located at 
the west side of the river near its mouth. In the same section in 1831 the 
Buffalo Company bought land on the lake known as the Carter Farm. 


70 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


They held forth the great possibilities of this location with warehouses 
on the low lands and stores and residences on the bluffs. Property rose 
to a higher value in a few years than it was worth sixty years later. 
The City of Ohio, or Ohio City as it was commonly called, had great 
expectations. Speculation was rife and the boom in real property made 
sales frequent, but each succeeding sale always at a price in advance of 
the preceding, as is the rule with booms. The Buffalo Company excavated 
a ship canal from the Cuyahoga River to the old river bed, thus making 
an entrance enabling boats to come in at the west end. After its incorpora¬ 
tion, Ohio City built a canal from the Cuyahoga River opposite the end 
of the Ohio Canal into the old river bed above the ship channel. This 
canal was thus in effect the terminus of the Ohio Canal. Ohio City was 
to have a harbor of its own independent of Cleveland, be the northern 



Mayor John W. Willey 

terminus of the Ohio Canal and entirely independent of Cleveland. The 
city was organized in March, 1836, before the organization of the City 
of Cleveland, which was organized as a city the same year, and was 
therefore the first city in Cuyahoga County. Josiah Barber was elected 
mayor. It was divided into three wards. E. Folsom, C. Williams, N. C. 
Baldwin and B. F. Tyler were elected councilmen from the first ward; 
F. A. Burrows, C. E. Hill, L. Risley and E. Slaght from the second 
ward, and R. Lord, William Benton, H. N. Ward and E. Conklin from 
the third ward. The mayor and members of the council met at the office 
of E. Folsom on March 30th to organize. It was decreed by lot who 
of the twelve councilmen should serve for one year and who for two 
years. F. A. Burrows was chosen clerk; Richard Lord, president of 
the council; Asa Foote, city treasurer; George L. Chapman, city marshal; 
Thomas Whelpley, city recorder. A room in the Columbus block was 
secured for council meetings at an annual rental of $80. 

This first city of the county continued in existence until 1855, but was 
first only in date of organization, when it was annexed to Cleveland. 
By a deal which induced the citizens of Ohio City to consent to the union, 
or at least aided the proposition, William B. Castle, the last mayor of 
Ohio City, was made the first mayor of Cleveland, after the annexation. 
Thus ended the dream of the west siders for a great lakeport city on 
the west bank of the Cuyahoga. One of the most "interesting episodes in 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


71 


connection with their struggle to exceed or keep pace with Cleveland on 
the other side was the socalled “bridge war.” An account of this has 
found a place in all of our local histories, but it illustrates more than an 
abstract statement, the spirit of rivalry displayed by the two sections 
in that day. The spirit of progress displayed by a real estate firm and 
an overt act of the City of Cleveland at the river was the beginning of 
the war. In 1833 James S. Clark and others allotted the land in the 
first bend of the Cuyahoga, the flats, and laid out Columbus Street through 
this tract to the river and, later, in 1837, on the other side of the stream, 
within the limits of Ohio City, they laid out a large allotment, which 
they called Willeyville after Mayor Willey of Cleveland. Through this 
allotment they laid out what became an extension of Columbus Street to 
connect with the Medina and Wooster turnpike at the south line of Ohio 
City. This was an expensive and extensive project for those days and 
reflected credit on the firm. They graded the hill to the river, built 
the roadway, and then spent $15,000 dollars in building a bridge across 
the river. The bridge is described in the first city directory of Cleveland 
as “supported by a stone abutment on either shore and piers of solid 
masonry in the center of the river. Between the piers is a draw sufficient 
to allow a vessel of forty-nine foot beam to pass through. The length 
is 200 feet, the breadth, including the sidewalks, 33 feet, and the height 
of the piers above the surface of the water may be estimated at 24 
feet. The whole, with the exception of the draw is roofed and enclosed, 
and presents an imposing appearance, and reflects much credit on the 
architect, Nathan Hunt. This splendid bridge was presented to the 
corporation of Cleveland by the owners, with the express stipulation that 
it should forever remain free to the public, although the Legislature had 
previously chartered it as a toll bridge.” 

This bridge and the extension of Columbus Street through the flats 
and the Willeyville allotment to the turnpike completed a short route to 
Cleveland from the south and west with a fairly easy grade up Michigan 
Street to Ontario Street. This route practically side-tracked Ohio City, 
which lay nearer the mouth of the river and the people of that ambitious 
city saw traffic from Elyria, Brooklyn, and the intervening farm country 
avoid their town and pass over the new bridge to their rival on the east 
side of the river. To make the situation worse, by what provocation 
we know not, an act of aggression on the part of the City of Cleveland 
was formulated and carried out. The twin cities were connected by a 
float bridge (pontoon) across the river at Main Street, now Superior. 
The Cleveland City owned the east half and the Ohio City the west half. 
The city council of Cleveland voted to remove their half of the bridge. 
The authority given by the council was carried out at night and there¬ 
upon the people of Ohio City held an indignation meeting and declared 
the new bridge a nuisance. Thus began the war between cities that as 
Professor Avery says were sisters and almost twins. A regular battle 
began on the new bridge between citizens and officials of Ohio City and 
Cleveland. It was argued by the west siders that Cleveland only extended 
to the center of the river and that that portion of the new bridge from 
that point was theirs to destroy, as the city had destroyed their half of 
the float bridge at Main Street. 

The marshal of Ohio City organized a posse of deputies and the new 
bridge was damaged by a charge of powder exploded under the Ohio 
City end. Two deep ditches were dug at the approaches at each end and 
traffic over the bridge suspended. Then a mob of west siders lead by 
C. L. Russell, one of their leading attorneys, marched down to the bridge 
only to meet the mayor of Cleveland prepared for defense with a number 


72 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


of militiamen, a crowd of his constituents, and having for a barrage a 
cannon that had been used for Fourth of July celebrations, probably a relic 
of the War of 1812. This piece was planted on the Cleveland side in 
position to rake the bridge. A battle was fought but without artillery, 
for Deacon House had spiked the cannon with an old file. Pistols, crow¬ 
bars, stones and fists were effectively used and some injured but none 
fatally. The sheriff of the county and the marshal of Cleveland finally 
stopped the battle. Several were landed in jail. An armed guard was 
put over the bridge, after the battle, by authority of the council of the 
City of Cleveland. The matter was taken into court and settled there. In 
the spiking of the gun by Deacon House he is given credit for benevolent 
forethought. He being a west sider it cannot be recorded, in the high 
state of excitement at that time, what he would have done if the cannon 
had been pointed the other way. Ohio City, formed from the Township 
of Brooklyn, lived as a distinct municipality for eighteen years, when it 
was annexed to Cleveland. The mayors in the order of their service 
were: Josiah Barber, Francis A. Burrows, Norman C. Baldwin, Need¬ 
ham M. Standart, Francis A. Burrows, again, Richard Lord, Daniel H. 
Lamb, David Griffith, John Beverling, Thomas Burnham, Benjamin 
Sheldon and William B. Castle. The latter, as we have said, serving as 
the first mayor of Cleveland after the union of the two cities. 

One of the oldest municipalities, born of the original Township of 
Brooklyn, was Brighton. Situated south of Big Creek or Mill Creek, 
it was the apex of roads leading south and southwest and became early 
a settlement of considerable importance. As early as 1833, some put it, 
which would make it older than Ohio City, the Village of Brighton was 
incorporated. Its first mayor was Mr. Babcock, father of Hon. Charles 
H. Babcock, who was justice of the peace in Brooklyn Township for many 
years and, in 1864 and 1866 represented this county in the Legislature, 
being speaker pro tern of the House of Representatives during his term in 
the Fifty-sixth General Assembly. The organization of Brighton was 
short lived, as the village organization was allowed to lapse in the years 
following the administration of Mayor Babcock. It went back under the 
township organization until 1890, when, with much opposition, it was organ¬ 
ized as a village under the name of South Brooklyn. The opposition to the 
incorporation of South Brooklyn was carried on by certain manufacturing 
plants, who, it was said, were fearful that the village officers would place 
too many restrictions on their business, restrictions as to the public health 
by the health officers of the village, and others that might interfere with 
the liberties they had enjoyed under the township government. The Cleve¬ 
land Dryer Company brought injunction proceedings, but the village won 
the suit. This was carried to the Court of Appeals and to the Supreme 
Court with the same result, Charles L. Selzer representing the village as 
special solicitor. The fight for its life by the Village of South Brooklyn 
was quite intense and exceeded only by the fight a few years later, when 
the village was annexed to the City of Cleveland. 

The first mayor was George Guscott, who is now living on Broadview 
Avenue, and the first clerk was Ora J. Fish, now a resident of California. 
This mayor served four years. Mr. Guscott was followed by H. H. 
(Ham) Bratton, and he by Lyon Phelps. Then in their order, James 
Rodgers and Fred Mathews, Mathews being mayor at the time of the 
annexation to Cleveland. As in most of the municipalities formed out of 
Brooklyn, there was in South Brooklyn violent opposition to annexation. 
The mayor and a part of the council were favorable, and, as a vote had 
been taken at the regular election and the result was a majority in both 
Cleveland and South Brooklyn for the annexation, the mayor and the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


73 


councilmen that stood with him, were for carrying out the will of the 
voters as expressed at the polls. The excitement was caused by those 
councilmen who tried to block the proceedings, and their efforts were clev¬ 
erly defeated. The council was composed of six members, requiring four 
for a quorum. Leonard Fish and Chauncey Brainard, councilmen, stood 
by the mayor in his efforts to carry out the wishes of the villagers, 
expressed at the election, while J. A. Nusser, C. J. Collister, George Miller 
and a Mr. Williams, while not wishing to enter the council chamber and 
vote against the peoples’ wish, hit upon the plan of breaking a quorum. 
Meetings were held for some time, but no quorum was in attendance. 
Finally J. A. Nusser moved out of the village and his seat in the body 
became vacant by reason of that fact. Now a council of five members 
remained and only three were required to transact business. Mass meet¬ 
ings were held in the village and the excitement ran high but no quorum 
of the council obtained. Finally Charles L. Selzer, acting as special 
solicitor for the village, brought quo warranto proceedings to oust Mr. Col¬ 
lister from office on the ground that he was not a citizen of the United 
States. The court granted the petition and Mr. Collister was ousted from 
office. He had been acting under the belief that his father was a natural¬ 
ized citizen, which the court found to be otherwise. 

In the meantime the council had been holding frequent meetings, 
adjourning from time to time only to add to the minutes of its proceedings 
“no quorum.” Following the ousting of Mr. Collister, Mr. Williams, one 
of the conspiring councilmen, slipped into the council meeting to ascertain 
what the next move on the municipal chess board would be. When his 
name was called he refused to answer, but Mayor Mathews said: “Mr. 
Williams, I see you are present, you are a councilman of the village, the 
clerk will record you as present, I stand upon the Tom Reed rules of Con¬ 
gress, and I now declare a quorum present for the transaction of busi¬ 
ness.” Mr. Williams, greatly incensed, rose and said: “Mr. Mayor, I 
resign as councilman of this village.” The mayor responded: “Put your 
resignation in writing and it will be considered.” Mr. Williams thereupon 
wrote out his resignation, which was immediately accepted and Charles 
Miller was elected to fill the vacancy. The council immediately passed the 
necessary annexation legislation. There was a great demonstration by the 
citizens on the final close of this drama of a Brooklyn municipality, almost 
equal to that when it was born, and when, over the heights above Brook- 
side Park, a cannon roared its approval. We should add that in the final 
meeting referred to, Dr. Linden was chosen councilman in the place of 
Mr. Williams and Charles Miller in the place of Mr. Collister, his period 
of service, like that of Mr. Miller, lasting only an hour. 

Brooklyn Village, as distinct from South Brooklyn, included territory 
north of Big Creek, and extended north beyond the Daisy Avenue of the 
present. It was organized in 1867. The first election was held November 
27th. The officers elected and qualified were: Mayor, Bethuel Fish; 
recorder, Leonard Foster; trustees, corresponding to councilmen of the 
present time, were A. W. Poe, J. S. Fish, Adam Kroehle, Dr. C. B. Galen- 
tine, and George Storer. In 1878, the officers of the village were: Mayor, 
Henry Ingham; clerk, James H. Richardson; councilmen, Beaser, Farns¬ 
worth, Naaf, Quirk, Roberts and Towl. Among the mayors of the village 
in the last period of its separate existence were Seymour Trowbridge, 
M. H. Farnsworth, Carlos Jones, William Prescott, Frank Bliss, Charles 
L. Selzer and W. R. Coates. All save the three first named are now living. 
The village grew in population and wealth from year to year but the 
menace of annexation was ever present. In 1888, Charles S. Whittem 
and Delos Cook, residents of the north end of the village began the circu- 


74 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


lation of a petition which had for its ultimate object the annexing to 
Cleveland of all that portion of Brooklyn Village north of Daisy Avenue 
and the first fight was on. At this time the Mail and News and The 
Cuyahogan, weekly papers, were published in the village. The Mail and 
News favored annexation and The Cuyahogan was opposed. Personalities 
were indulged in and the rivalry was of the kind illustrated by Artemus 
Ward when working on the Advertiser, one of two rival local papers in 
Norway, Maine. Artemus was a “printer’s devil” on the Advertiser. It 
is related that he noticed the continual boasting of the rival paper. A new 
window was put in, and later the casing was painted and other matters 
were announced as showing the enterprise of the management and reflect¬ 
ing glory on the establishment. In the next number of the Advertiser an 
article by Artemus was published as follows: “We have bored a new hole 
in the sink and put a bran new slop pail under it. What have the hell¬ 
hounds across the street got to say to that ?” It should be mentioned that 
the first paper published in the village was a little sheet called The Town 
Crier, which was published by H. M. Farnsworth. This, full of spice 
and local items, was enlarged in two years and named The Cuyahogan 
and later sold to A. E. Hyre, who continued its publication for some 
years. The Mail and News was published by John and William Schmehl. 

The fight for the annexation of the north end of Brooklyn Village to 
Cleveland, the central topic of the two village papers, begun in 1888, ended 
in 1890, and all of the village north of Daisy Avenue, excepting a portion 
in the northeast, which was retained, was annexed to Cleveland, and 
became a part of the Thirty-ninth Ward. The outcome of this contest 
begun and carried forward by Messrs. Whittern and Cook started the 
agitation for the annexation of the while village. As indicating the bitter¬ 
ness of the contest in the rival papers we quote from an issue of one after 
the annexation: “On the 24th of February the north end of the Village of 
Brooklyn made application to the City of Cleveland for annexation. The 
City of Cleveland by its council passed a resolution asking the county 
commissioners to detach the territory. After permitting an amendment 
whereby twenty-four voters, eighteen of whom are remonstrants, were left 
in the village, the petition was granted. The whole matter would have 
been laid before the council for final action had it not been for the inter¬ 
ruption caused by the filing of a petition for injunction. As our readers 
know, Judge Hamilton sustained the annexers. This successful end in 
the face of one of the shrewdest bodies of men in any village, reflects 
credit on those who had the courage to beard the lion in his den. Not 
only has the village organ (referring to the other paper) repeated and 
revamped its old worn-out and exploded arguments against annexation 
but it has resorted to the use of vile epithets and most disgusting phrases 
against those gentlemen in the north end, who faced the artillery of the 
gang. It now remains to be seen what will be done in reference to the 
annexation of the remainder of the village.” Following this release to 
Greater Cleveland of a portion of its territory, the citizens opposed to 
annexation began the agitation for the advancement of the village to a 
city hoping by this method to forestall the annexation of any more of its 
territory to the City of Cleveland. This was voted upon at the following 
election. An incident illustrating the anxiety over this proposal will show 
for itself. Charles L. Selzer, the candidate for mayor at this election, who 
was a very popular candidate, found in a printing office campaign cards 
for himself with the legend “To Advance to a City—Yes,” printed in bold 
type at the bottom. Not running on that issue, he threw them in the stove 
and paid the printer for the loss. Mayor Selzer served four years and 
was succeeded by W. R. Coates, who was elected on an annexation plat- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


75 


form in a campaign in which there was a great deal of politics to the 
square inch, notwithstanding that both the City of Cleveland and the Vil¬ 
lage of Brooklyn had voted at a previous election for annexation. 

The Village of Brooklyn was annexed to Cleveland in 1894. The 
usual injunction suit was brought in the courts, heard before Judge Walter 
Ong of the Common Pleas Court and the injunction refused. Fred F. 
Klingman, a member of the last council of the village, was the first coun¬ 
cilman from the new territory to the Cleveland City Council, and was fol¬ 
lowed by William Prescott, a former mayor. The next was William 
Townes, who died while in office and was succeeded by his son, Clayton C. 
Townes, now president of the council. 

West Cleveland, formed from territory on the west line of Brooklyn, 
was organized in 1875. The first mayor was Mr. Mitchell and the first 
clerk, Alfred H. Leece. The records are incomplete and do not show the 
other officers. Then followed Mayor Forbes and next came John C. 
Hawley. In 1879, L. H. Ware was mayor and Charles E. Farrell was 
clerk. O. Alger was mayor in 1883-1888. The clerks during that time 
being D. W. Batchelder and A. W. Fairbanks. W. J. White, known 
later as the manufacturer of Yucatan gum, and who served as a member 
of Congress from this district, was mayor from 1890 to 1891. Fairbanks 
was clerk during his administration. Gustav Schmidt was mayor in 1892 
and 1893 and J. V. McCauley was clerk. E. N. Thompson was mayor 
and F. P. Thomas clerk at the time of the annexation of the village to 
Cleveland, which occurred February 26, 1894, the same year of the annex¬ 
ation of the Village of Brooklyn, and this village became the Forty-first 
Ward of Cleveland. There was the usual division of opinion on the 
question and a fight before surrender. Unlike South Brooklyn, in this 
case the mayor was inclined to block proceedings and the council favorable 
to the annexation of the village, and so acted 

In 1872 George Linn, Robert Linn, C. J. Thatcher and A. K. Moulton 
purchased a large tract of land in the southwest part of Brooklyn Town¬ 
ship, which they named Linndale Village Allotment. On the first of May, 
1873, they sold an allotted tract to David Beaty for $165,000, receiving 
a down payment of $15,000. The deal with Beaty did not progress and 
some time later he refused further payments and sued for the $15,000, 
which he had paid. Beaty did not receive title and in 1874 another deal 
was put through, which might have carried the creators of the Linndale 
allotment to success but the panic of 1876, coupled with the failure of Jay 
Cook, which weakened the Cleveland bank that was expected to aid in 
financing the enterprise, occurred. The dream of the Linns was not 
realized and the project languished. Law suits and discouragements have 
been the fruits of the enterprise. It started out with much promise. A 
newspaper called the Linndale Enterprise was published and an apparent 
boom was on but it soon died out. In 1900, the Village of Linndale was 
incorporated. The first mayor was Frank Seither, who was elected by 
“the long straw,” as it was expressed. In the first election, Mr. Seither 
and George Linn received each the same number of votes and they drew 
lots to decide the election, Mr. Seither drawing the long straw and being 
declared mayor-elect. In the fall of the same year, that portion of the 
village in which Mr. Seither resided was annexed to the City of Cleveland 
and his term as mayor expired automatically, the president pro tern of the 
council acting as mayor until a successor was elected. From that time 
on George Linn has served continuously as mayor, being elected and 
re-elected at every succeeding election. The records in the county record¬ 
er’s office show the officers at present to be: Mayor, George Linn; clerk, 
Harvey E. Dorsey; treasurer, Assunto Lembo; marshal, Edward De 


76 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Miller; councilmen, J. W. Hazel, Henry Byer, James Cupalo, William 
Weir, Sherley Stanbush and Clifton D. Wren. Since that record was 
made, charges have been preferred against the marshal, Edward De Miller, 
in connection with the enforcement of the prohibition laws, and he has 
been ousted from office. At present A. W. Hecker and W. F. Keiper, 
as deputy marshals, act in his stead. A visit to the village hall, which 
comprises the mayor’s office and the jail, indicates the activity of these 
deputies. Outside piles of casks, said to contain wine, were awaiting the 
hearing before the mayor of the erstwhile owners. Vacant cells were filled 
with jugs and still of those who were charged with unlawful manufacture 
and sale. The exhibits at the mayor’s office do not represent offenders 
in the village alone, as cases are brought to the mayor from the township 
outside. The present population of the village is about 500. 

The last of the municipalities to be erected from the territory of old 
Brooklyn Township includes a great garden area, in the southeast part. 
The occasion for the breaking away from the township government was 
the higher tax valuations due to the intensive cultivation for gardening 
and greenhouse purposes. The citizens were paying for school buildings 
and improvements in other parts of the township and in larger proportions 
and got but little in return. J. E. Wyman visited P. H. Kaiser, the county 
solicitor, and requested him to direct this community to the necessary pro¬ 
ceedings to secure for them a special school district. He was advised that 
a special school district would only be formed of a municipality. Then 
the necessary steps were taken and in 1903 the Village of Brooklyn Heights 
was formed to include in addition to the Brooklyn territory, nearly an 
equal amount from Independence Township. The first officers were: 
Mayor, M. L. Reutenik; clerk, H. H. Richardson; treasurer, Simeon 
Chester; councilmen, I. B. Hinckley, W. H. Gates, John Gehring, Sr., 
J. L. Foote and J. E. Wyman. The county records show that the Town¬ 
ship of Brooklyn Heights was also formed of territory co-extensive with 
the village. This is functioning as a judicial township. In this village 
the green house industry is predominant. There are today more than 100 
acres under glass. The first mayor of the village, Mr. Reutenik, was 
one of the leaders in a large way. He was active in forming an organiza¬ 
tion called the Growers’ Market, which acts, as does the Citrus Associa¬ 
tion of the orange sections of the country, in directing the supply, sale 
and shipment of their products. Fresh vegetables are shipped throughout 
the year to all parts of the country. The Florists’ Association also has a 
large representation from this section. The value of the vegetables and 
flowers produced from this territory each year totals a sum unthought of 
when Isaac Hinckley tried to mortgage 100 acres for a barrel of flour 
and was refused. 

The present officers of the village are: Mayor, H. J. Webster; clerk, 
A. F. Goldenbogen; treasurer, George Walter; assessor, Ross Wyman; 
councilmen, Frank Wutrich, George Thompson, Alexander Drecer, E. W. 
Arth, A. G. Heinrichs and Henry Merkle. 

Thus Brooklyn Township, number 7 of range 13, has raised up six 
separate municipalities, four have merged in Greater Cleveland and two 
have still their separate government, and a little corner of number 7 is 
still the Township of Brooklyn. Among the trustees of the original town¬ 
ship have been Samuel H. Barstow, Diodate Clark, William Allen, Samuel 
Tyler, Martin Kellogg, Russell Pelton, William Burton, Jonathan Fish, 
Benjamin Sawtell, Ezra Honeywell, William Hartness, Philo Rowley, 
Morris Jackson, Samuel Storer, Levi Lockwood, R. C. Selden, Seth 
Brainard, James Sears, Ambrose Anthony, Francis Branch, Homer Strong, 
Clark S. Gates, John Goes, David S. Brainard, John L. Tohnson, C. L. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


77 


Gates, John Reeve, Martin K. Rowley, Thomas James, James W. Day, 
Joseph Marmann, Levi Fish, William Lehr, F. S. Pelton, Jacob Siringer, 
John Ross, Marcus Dennerle, Jefferson Fish, Bethuel Fish, John Myers, 
Samuel Sears, Robert Curtiss, Daniel W. Hoyt, Erhart Wooster, Robert 
Curtiss, J. C. Wait, John Williams, John Schmehl, Charles E. Farrell, 
Seymour Trowbridge, Charles Miller, Sanford R. Brainard, William 
Thomas and Peter Vonderaue. Among the clerks have been C. L. Rus¬ 
sell, Samuel H. Fox, Francis Fuller, John H. Sargent, George L. Chap¬ 
man, Charles Winslow, C. E. Hill, F. W. Pelton, Bolles M. Brainard, 
Charles H. Babcock, Frederick Dalton, Joseph B. Shull, F. H. Chester, 
Fred W. Wirth, Edwin T. Fuller, B. J. Ross, William Treat and Charles 
N. Collins. Among the treasurers, Oziah and David S. Brainard and 
Bethuel and Ozias Fish, Carlos Jones and Carver Stickney also served 
in that office. 

Among the justices of the peace, who have represented the majesty of 
the law in Brooklyn Township, may be mentioned George W. Marsh, 
C. L. Russell, William Burton, Benjamin Doud, Herman A. Hurlbut, 
Samuel Tyler, Scott W. Sayles, J. H. Sargent, Benjamin Sawtell, Andrew 
White, Ezra R. Benton, Henry 1. Whitman, Homer Strong, Samuel 
Storer, J. A. Redington, Ezra Honeywell, Wells Porter, Charles H. Bab¬ 
cock, Felix Nicola, Benjamin R. Beavis, John Reeve, John S. Fish, Joseph 
M. Poe, Ambrose Anthony, William Treat and Charles N. Collins. All 
should have the title of Esquire attached to their names. Mr. Collins was 
clerk of the Village of Brooklyn at the time of its annexation to Cleveland. 
Joseph M. Poe served several terms as a member of the Legislature from 
this county and was related to the Poes so famous as Indian fighters in 
the pioneer history of Ohio. Felix Nicola served as sheriff of the county, 
and Charles H. Babcock, as has been said, was at one time speaker pro tern 
of the Ohio General Assembly. 

The first religious services in Brooklyn were held by a traveling Uni- 
versalist preacher. As early as 1814 a Methodist class met at the home 
of Oziah Brainard. It started with three members, Ebenezer Fish, Syl- 
vanus Brainard and Seth Brainard. This small class increased to ten. 
In 1817, Booth and Goddard, Methodist circuit riders, preached in Brook¬ 
lyn and soon after the Methodist Church was organized. It held meetings 
in a log house which later was used by the Congregationalists, who organ¬ 
ized in 1819. The Brooklyn Methodist Church in 1837 moved into a 
frame building on what is now West Twenty-fifth Street, near Denison 
Avenue, and in 1848 a brick church was built on the site of the frame one, 
which was moved away, and in 1916 was dedicated the present structure 
on Archwood, which was built at a cost of about $85,000. Previous to 
1844 a number of seceders from this church organized what was known 
as the Reformed Methodist Church, across the valley in Brighton. Among 
the members were Ogden and Julia Hinckley, Cyrus Brainard and Joseph 
and Mathilda Williams. This organization was allowed to lapse and in 
1844 the Brighton Methodist Episcopal Church was organized. Among 
the pastors who have served this church the name of Rev. E. H. Bush is 
the most widely known. The present pastor of the Brooklyn Church on 
Archwood is Rev. Elmer S. Smith. Among the early pastors are 
(omitting the Rev.) James Taylor, John Crawford, Solomon Meneier, 
Adam Poe, H. O. Sheldon, James McIntyre, N. S. Albright, Joseph Mat¬ 
tock, Alfred Holbrook and-Hoadley. In 1876, T. K. Dissette was 

superintendent of the Sunday school. He became a preacher and platform 
orator of note and for many years, after leaving the ministry for the law, 
served as judge of the Common Pleas Court in Cleveland. 

The Congregational Church of Brooklyn was organized in 1819. The 



78 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


original members were Amos Brainard, Isaac Hinckley and Sallie Hinckley, 
his wife, James and Eliza Smith, husband and wife, and Rebecca Brainard. 
The early ministers were William McLain and T. I. Bradstreet and Ran¬ 
dolph Stone. In 1847 the organization lapsed but was renewed in 1851 
under the direction of Calvin Durfee. Among the pastors have been 
James A. Bates, E. H. Votaw, J. W. Hargrave, Reverend Peeke and 
Reverend Lewis. The present pastor is Rev. R. B. Blyth. In 1867 this 
church, which, although Congregational had before been attached to the 
Cleveland Presbytery, united with the Congregational Conference. In 
1879 the present church building on Archwood was completed and opened 
for public services. 

We have given briefly the history of these churches, whose roots were 
fibered deeply in the soil of the original township. Of the schools little 
can be given as the records are not preserved and their history will merge 
in that of the City of Cleveland. Various organizations deserve mention 
and other churches now active in this portion of Cleveland that belong 
in part to Brooklyn history. Brooklyn Post of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, Camp Sears, which once existed as an independent body of 
ex-soldiers of the Civil war, the Women’s Relief Corps, the Daughters of 
Veterans, the Sons of Veterans, Brooklyn Masonic Lodge, Brooklyn Chap¬ 
ter of the Eastern Star and Denison Chapter, on the north side of Mill 
Creek and Elbrook and Laurel Lodges of Masons, Elbrook Chapter of the 
Eastern Star on the south side, originally Brighton, Riverside Lodge 
Knights of Pythias on the north side and a lodge of the same order on the 
south side, a lodge of the Woodmen of the World on the north side and 
Glen Lodge of Oddfellows and a lodge of the Knights of Malta on the 
south side are a part of the history of Brooklyn and Cleveland. 

Dr. James Hedley, widely known as a lecturer, was identified with 
Brooklyn where he spent many of the last years of his life. His widow, 
Mrs. Mary Hedley, now lives near their Brooklyn home. Dr. Hedley in 
1901 published a book entitled: “Twenty Years on the Lecture Platform.” 
In this book is printed entire one of his lectures entitled “The Sunny Side 
of Life.” This lecture at the time the book was published had been deliv¬ 
ered more than a thousand times. It embodies the Coue idea now called 
autosuggestion. From this most interesting book of a Brooklyn author 
we quote the inscription: “I know a place where love has builded; a place 
from which when going I weep, and to which returning I laugh, as with 
the laughter of angels; a place to which my children bring the first wild 
flowers of spring; a place where affection lights as with the splendor of 
morning doorstep and window; a place that sorrow has hallowed and joy 
blest as with a benediction; a place where when men forsake me and doubt 
me, faith still abides and the heart still hopes. No painter can do it jus¬ 
tice, no poet can sing a song worthy of it, and no philosopher can explain 
the meaning of its power. The place is Home, and to Mary, my wife, who 
has made it possible, I affectionately inscribe this book. James Hedley.” 

Leonard G. Foster, mentioned as the first recorder of Brooklyn Vil¬ 
lage, has published several volumes of poems. His last book, “The Early 
Days,” is a single poem profusely illustrated. Mr. Foster is now over 80 
years of age but active. The poem, “The Early Days,” was read by him at 
a meeting of the Early Settlers’ Association recently and describes the life 
of the early settlers. The three books published by him previous to this 
are “Whisperings of Nature,” “Blossoms of Nature,” and “Songs of 
Nature.” With his permission we quote the dedication: “To the sturdy 
pioneers who braved the hardships and perils of an unbroken wilderness 
and planted the seeds of progress that have blossomed into the civilization 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


79 


we enjoy today, this heart-begotten retrospect in verse is tenderly dedicated 
by the author.” 

Carlos Jones, the founder of the Jones Home for Friendless Children, 
located between Library and Daisy Avenues on West Twenty-fifth Street, 
should have a place in Brooklyn history. One of the early mayors of 
Brooklyn Village, active in public affairs he has left this home, which has 
been a real home to a multitude of children otherwise bereft, and it has 
been sustained and carried on to greater efficiency by the community from 
year to year. 


CHAPTER VIII 


PARMA 

Number 6, range 13, would be our designation, if taken from the 
surveyors’ records, which includes a tract five miles square, north of Roy- 
alton, west of Independence and east of Middleburgh townships. This 
tract level in the north and west but hilly in the east, having no streams 
of size, but with a productive clay soil, fell in the original speculative 
division of the Western Reserve to several proprietors. There was the 
Tuckerman, Cheny, Sly, Blake, Plympton and other tracts, and the owners 
early endeavored to promote settlement on their lands. On account of the 
general impression that it was a swampy and undesirable region, the orig¬ 
inal owners had difficulty in finding purchasers at first. Benjamin Fay, a 
native of Massachusetts, who came from Lewis County, New York, was 
the first settler. He came in 1816 and located on the Plympton tract. 
With his wife and twelve children, an ox team and a horse, he made the 
journey. On arriving he was compelled to cut a road through the woods 
to reach his farm. He opened a tavern in 1819 on the old stage road in a 
double log house, an evidence of affluence or a large family in those days, 
opposite the residence, later, of J. W. Fay. As “B. Fay’s Inn,” this was a 
much frequented hostelry and a famous landmark for many years. Mr. 
Fay built a frame tavern in 1826 and in 1832 replaced it with a brick one, 
which was the first brick house built in the township. He served in pub¬ 
lic office and was honored and useful until his death in 1860 at the age of 
eighty-five. 

In 1817 one Conrad Countryman, a “Mohawk Dutchman,” took up a 
farm on the Ely tract in the western part of the township on a line on 
which afterwards ran the stage road between Cleveland and Columbus. He 
built a sawmill and conducted a blacksmith shop, both early and essential 
industries, these being the first in the township. In addition to all this, he, 
aided by his son, who had built a log house on his father’s farm and kept 
“bachelor’s hall,” besides being miller, lumberman, farmer and blacksmith 
also kept a tavern and we can safely assume that he kept busy. Pelatiah 
Bliss, a Connecticut Yankee, in 1818, traveled on foot, carrying a pack on 
his back, seeking a location in the boundless West. On reaching this town¬ 
ship he was favorably impressed and bought fifty acres on the Ely tract, 
built a shanty and made a clearing. Previous to the trip he had become 
obsessed with the idea of marrying a certain fair damsel in Connecticut 
as soon as a home was provided. After laboring a few years in the new 
home to make it and its surroundings fit for a bride he walked back, 
living on the return journey from his haversack, stocked with salt pork. 
This incident, with others, is included in a sketch given the writer by 
Charles S. Whittern for this history, who was born and raised as a boy 
in the township, was a teacher in the “Little Red Schoolhouse” of those 
days, and has been connected with the courts of Cleveland for a third of 
a century. Mr. Whittern published a few years ago a neat volume of 
poems entitled “The Little Red School House and Other Poems.” 

Number 6, range 13, was known as Greenbrier until its organiza¬ 
tion when it received the official title of Parma. The only information 

80 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


81 


as to the selection of the name or the change from the unofficial to the 
official name is the suggestion that Parma is an easier name to write and 
hence less burdensome to the penman whose tools included the axe, the 
maul and wedge, and the flail. The settlement of the township was slow 
until 1821, when a number of families came at the same time. The 
families of Asa Emerson, Amos Hodgman, Jesse Nicholas, Joseph Small 
and William Steele, all neighbors in Maine, settled in Southern Ohio in 
1817. As related in the sketch of Mr. Whittern, however, the Emersons 
came to Greenbrier direct from Maine. At any rate, these families kept 
up a correspondence with each other, those in Southern Ohio being dis¬ 
satisfied with their location, it was agreed that they should all come to 
Greenbrier, which they did in 1821. Asa Emerson, who had a family of 
nine, bought a farm of seventy-five acres on the Wickerman tract, stop¬ 
ping for a while at Countryman’s before buying. He was a vigorous 
character, a typical pioneer. He became a carpenter as well as a farmer 
and lived in Parma until his death in 1855. Amos Hodgman settled 
on the Tuckerman tract, living the balance of his days on the farm and 
leaving his descendants to continue the reclaiming of the wilderness into 
which he and his family came as early settlers. Jesse Nicholas and family 
settled on the Ely tract. Nicholas was located on the old Columbus road 
and became a tavern keeper as well as farmer. Joseph Small settled on 
the Tuckerman tract and after twenty-six years moved to Michigan, but 
as a rule these early arrivals remained during life and leaving at their 
death descendants to continue in their stead. Of those who came in 1821, 
John Hodgman, Asa and Oliver Emerson were in 1880 the earliest sur¬ 
viving settlers. A pathetic incident is related of one family who came 
with the number in 1821. William Steele, with his wife, (they had no 
children) who had located on the Ely tract, after two years of frontier 
life, died. His widow returned to Maine, making the journey on foot and 
alone. 

The sketch by Mr. Whittern, expanded from a bit of local history 
found in an old scrap book runs as follows: “In the early pioneer days 
what is now Parma township was a portion of Brooklyn and bore the 
euphonious and significant name ‘Greenbrier.’ This appellation was 
deemed most appropriate by the early settlers because of the vigorous 
growth and well-nigh universal prevalence of this thorny emerald creeper 
upon the hilly sections of the territory. 

“Parma was settled somewhat later than the adjacent townships and 
was organized into a township in 1826. In April of that year was held 
the first township election at the cabin home of Samuel Freeman. 
Pelatiah Bliss was chosen clerk and treasurer, Asa Emerson, Sr., S. J. 
Varney and David Andrews trustees, Benjamin Fay and Jesse Nicholas 
overseers of the poor, John Hodgman and Benjamin Norton fence 
viewers, and Amos Hodgman and Asher Norton supervisors of highways. 
The Emersons arrived from Maine, after a tortuous journey and a lapse 
of four years. Their itinerary in the ‘wild west’ included Charleston and 
Wheeling in West Virginia, then old Virginia. Coming to Cleveland, 
then Ohio City and to Parma, they purchased a tract in the woods at three 
dollars an acre. They found the population in no wise dense, for only 
four householders had preceded them and they were the families of Ben¬ 
jamin Fay and Conrad Countryman and the unmarried Pelatiah Bliss 
and Mr. Countryman, brother of Conrad, the two latter keepers of 
‘bachelor halls.’ 

“The cabins of these ‘householders’ were all located near the present 
Wooster Pike. The Bliss domicile, near what is now York Road, was the 
only residence between Albion and the Emerson cabin. Pelatiah Bliss 


82 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


was a native of Connecticut and there he left his fiancee when he came 
to seek his new home in the western wilds. Those were the joyous days 
of tedious locomotion on ‘shanks’ horses and of moderate migratory speed 
in ‘prairie schooners’ drawn by patient oxen gee-ing and haw-ing through 
the winding ways. Such trivial things, however, could not dampen the 
ardor of Mr. Bliss, whose ‘best girl’ must be obtained at any cost and 
transplanted from the environs of the ‘wooden nutmeg State’ to the 
fertile soil in the land of the bpckeye. So this valiant householder set 
forth on the long journey to Connecticut on foot and alone, carrying only 
a haversack containing a chunk of salt pork for his subsistence en route. 
When hunger gnawed and no settler’s cabin was near his line of march, 
Pelatiah would kindle a fire, roast some strips of meat on a sharpened 
stick, and devour it with a real woodman’s appetite. Often on this long 
tramp was he compelled to accept the hospitable offer of Mother Nature 
to recline upon her bed of leaves for his night’s repose. His destination 
reached, the nuptial knot was firmly tied, for you know— 

“ ‘Love is as cunnin’ a little thing 
As a hummin’ bird upon the wing.” 

The happy couple engaged passage on the nineteenth century limited cov¬ 
ered wagon in which the Joel and George Foote families were just em¬ 
barking for Brooklyn. In return for these transportation facilities Mr. 
Bliss served as ox-team engineer, directing the limited through without 
a collision and without the loss of a single passenger. 

“As has been said, the Emersons bought their land for three dollars 
an acre but the same land is now worth as many hundred dollars per 
acre. In those early days of the ‘johnny’ cake and ‘punkin’ pie, venison 
steaks were abundant and bear meat was not limited to the worshippers 
of Epicurus, for our hardy forefathers knew how to use their long- 
barreled rifles with marvelous accuracy of aim. Their home-made leaden 
pellets from those trusty guns were as unerring in their course to the 
heart of the noble buck as were those of the renowned Leather Stocking, 
famous for his marksmanship, as related by our own James Fennimore 
Cooper. Samuel Freeman taught the first Parma school and five of the 
early families combined to build the first church. The church was but 
the fraction of a mile from the site of the present Presbyterian edifice. 
Where this church stands the old Nicholas tavern stood in the days of 
the stage coach, drawn by a four-horse team, which carried the mail and 
passengers through to Medina.” 

Asher Norton and family came from Vermont in 1823 and settled 
in the southeast part of the township. Norton stayed on the farm till 
1863, when he moved to Brighton, where he died. His brother Benjamin 
Norton, who bought an adjoining farm in the same year as Asher, re¬ 
mained till 1859, when he moved to Brecksville. Rufus Scovill, a brother- 
in-law of the Nortons, came the same year with his family and remained 
till his death. We are getting now nearly to the date of the organization 
of the township. Albert T. Beals, who had earlier settled in Royalton, 
came with his family to Parma or Greenbrier in 1825, having bought a 
farm on the Ely tract. They lived in the township till 1875. Our fore¬ 
fathers were not nomads. In 1825, this year, the little settlement was aug¬ 
mented by the arrival of Samuel Freeman, wife, ten children and a hired 
man, who came from Massachusetts. Freeman came by way of the Erie 
Canal and Lake Erie and arrived at the home of Benjamin Fay in Green¬ 
brier Saturday, May 25th, twenty days after starting. He bought a farm 
on the Plympton tract and the family lived in the new barn of Benjamin 
Fay until their house was built. Neighborly fraternity was supreme. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


S3 

The early settlers of Parma had the hardships common to all in the 
county, and dangers, but the red man had vanished before their coming. 
Indians did not trouble but wild beasts were numerous and caused much 
annoyance. As late as 1842 the ravages of bears and wolves were so great 
that a hunt was organized and a round-up similar to the great Hinckley 
hunt referred to in a former chapter was formulated. This hunt lasted 
several days. For a long time after its settlement grass was scarce and hay 
for cattle was brought from Middleburgh. Later the township was a large 
producer of hay and large quantities were sold in Cleveland. In the 
most primitive era there was only browse for cattle and the housewife 
baked her bread on a board before a wood fire and roasted meat hung by 
a string over the same wood fire. Wheat bread was scarce but “johnny 
cake” made from corn ground in a home stump mortar did its part as a 
substitute. When Moses Towl built a gristmill on Big Creek it was con¬ 
sidered a great boon and Mr. Towl was looked upon as a philanthropist 
or public benefactor. 

The first person born in the township was Lucina Emerson, daughter 
of Asa. She was born in March, 1823. She married Charles Nicholas 
and bore him two children. A grandson, Harry, has been a deputy in the 
county clerk’s office in Cleveland for many years, holding a responsible 
position and being so efficient that political changes do not affect his tenure 
of position. On the death of her husband she married Levi E. Meacham, 
who was of Puritan stock, a native of Maine. He came with his parents 
to Parma in 1820. His parents were Isaac and Sophia Meacham. It is 
authentically stated that the mother of Isaac was a granddaughter of the 
celebrated Miles Standish. By her second husband Mrs. Meacham had 
one child, Levi E. Meacham, who was left to her sole care, as the father 
died when he was two years of age. At the outbreak of the Civil war 
her two sons enlisted, Oscar Nicholas and Levi E. Meacham, the latter 
being only fifteen years of age, and she herself went to the front and 
served as a hospital nurse. Oscar served until disabled by wounds and 
Levi served till the end of the war. She went to the front in 1862 and 
served till the close of the war, when she returned to the old home in 
Parma. For a third husband she married Joshua Whitney, whom she 
outlived for a number of years. Levi E. Meacham was county clerk 
and state representative after the Civil war and lived in Cleveland until 
his death quite recently. 

The first death in the township was that of Isaac Emerson, a young 
man of seventeen. He was buried on the Countryman place and later 
his body was removed to the cemetery on the Medina road. 

The first marriage ceremony was celebrated at the house of Joseph 
Small when his daughter Lois was wedded to Ephraim Towls of Middle¬ 
burgh. It is reported that this, although the first, was a quiet wedding. 
The advent of horning parties with the horse fiddle, a scantling or rail 
drawn over a dry goods box which had been rosined for the occasion, 
the use of any article that would make a disagreeable noise, and the 
general disturbance by the members of a disorganized crowd, by whom 
and for what peculiar end it is not known, entered later into the diver¬ 
sions of pioneer life and has continued with some changes, at intervals, 
up to the present time. 

As has been said, the township was organized in 1826 and the name 
Greenbrier changed to the official name of Parma, but it has remained 
an agricultural community. In these days when we speak so glibly of 
billions it may be interesting to read the report of the township treasurer 
as to his receipts for the year up to April, 1827. He reported receipts 
for road taxes $16.84 and for road certificates $11.38, making a total of 


84 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


$28.22. This was the beginning of the good roads movement. In 1827 
the township was divided into road districts, the first being two miles in 
width on the west side, the second the same width, parallel with this north 
and south, and the third constituting the remainder. The road known 
as the Brighton and Parma plank road was at an early day the Cleveland 
and Columbus turnpike, over which there was a vast amount of travel 
and upon which, within the limits of Parma, there were four taverns. 
When William Henry Harrison was elected to the Presidency the Whigs 
celebrated with great enthusiasm. Among other demonstrations a crowd 
from Cleveland mounted a canoe on wheels and escorted it over the 
turnpike to Columbus. When this procession reached the house of Asa 
Emerson there was a counter demonstration. Mr. Emerson was an 
unflinching democrat, a supporter of Van Buren, and even though his 
candidate was beaten he was not one to sit idly by and desert him. He 
hoisted his wife’s red petticoat on a broomstick, in derision, and marched 
defiantly alongside the big canoe waving his flag and taunting the Harrison 
crowd to intense anger. Good judgment prevailed and the clash amounted 
only to a clash of tongues and no violence ensued. 

We have said that Parma from the first was strictly an agricultural 
community. An exception may be noted in an industry that for a brief 
period was well and widely known. William and Dudley Humphrey, who 
came to Parma in 1836, pursued for fifteen years, or until 1851, the manu¬ 
facture of clock cases, in which they set the works procured from Con¬ 
necticut. These clocks they then sold throughout the country. Their 
business became quite extensive and the homes of the settlers all over 
the Western Reserve were equipped with Connecticut timepieces en¬ 
closed in Parma cases. 

The first sermon heard in Parma was delivered by Rev. Henry Hudson, 
a Baptist minister, at the home of Asa Emerson. Mr. Hudson was a 
doctor of medicine as well as a minister, and having been called to attend 
the birth of a daughter of Mr. Emerson’s on Saturday, he remained and 
preached a sermon on Sunday. A hasty notice was sent out and the 
inhabitants gathered in response. After that Mr. Hudson preached often 
in Parma, and as many of the residents were of that faith he always had 
hearers. Another Baptist, Rev. Mr. Jackson, also preached there, but 
no church of that denomination was ever formed. But a Free Will 
Baptist Church was organized in the southeast part of the township in 
1830. Among the members were David Pond, John Johnson, I. W. Kil- 
burn, Alfred Cleveland and Moses Ware, with their wives. A revival in 
1839 added forty to the membership. Among the early preachers were 
Elders Randall and Walker. This church never had a building of its 
own but used a schoolhouse for worship. It dissolved in 1864. The first 
Presbyterian was organized as Congregational November 7, 1835, with 
fourteen members, the Freeman family, James M. Cogswell, Beulah G. 
Adams, Catharine Ann Ferrell, Mary H. Cogswell, the Chapin family, 
Frederick and Harriet Cogswell and Arvin Kennedy as, what would be 
called in a non-sectarian fraternal body, charter members. In this church 
began the temperance movement. At the first meeting it was resolved 
“not to take for a member any person who is a dealer in or manufacturer 
of ardent spirits.” The first minister was Rev. Benjamin Page, who was 
employed to give half of his time for $400 per year. Among the early min¬ 
isters were Rev. V. D. Taylor, Rev. Phineas Kingsley, Rev. C. B. Stevens 
and Rev. J. D. Jenkins. The meetings were held in a schoolhouse until 
their church was built. 

It will be noted that in the early settlement of the townships, so far 
referred to, the New England type of pioneer prevailed, and this is 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


85 


practically true as to all the townships of the county, but great changes 
came in the large number of foreign born citizens who followed them. 
In the census of Parma taken in 1870, out of a population of 1,500 two- 
thirds were German and others of foreign birth. This change will be 
noticed in the organization of religious bodies. In 1858 Saint Paul’s 
German Reformed Protestant was organized and a brick building for 
worship erected. The first trustees were Michael Hoag, Adam Hahn, 
George Bauer and John Huber. Rev. Mr. Kraus was one of the pastors, 
but he served after a division of the organization occurred. This was in 
1867. Members of this church broke away and formed Saint John’s 
German Evangelical Lutheran Church and the following year built them¬ 
selves a church building. In 1872, through the efforts of Father Quigley, 
the Church of the Holy Family (Catholic) was organized. Father Quig¬ 
ley began services at the home of Conrad Rohrbach and a year later, 
in 1873, a church building was built on a lot adjoining the residence. Mr. 
Rohrbach was the first trustee. 

The first school was taught by Samuel Freeman in his own home in 
1825. He taught his own children and such of those of his neighbors 
as cared to come. If he received any compensation it came probably in 
the way of “changing work,” those who sent children to his school giving 
value for the instruction received in farm or other work for Mr. Freeman 
and his family. The following year, the year of the township organiza¬ 
tion, two school districts were set off, one in May and the other in 
December of 1826. Later nine districts were formed to include all the 
territory of the township, and the “Little Red Schoolhouse” was the uni¬ 
versity of each district. We can only mention a few of those who taught 
in these universities, Jane Elliott (Snow), authoress and lecturer, acting 
as associate editor of this history until her death; John M. Wilcox, who 
was sheriff of this county and at the time of his death editor of the Cleve¬ 
land Press; Levi E. Meacham, soldier, legislator and county officer; 
Charles S. Whittern, court officer in the Common Pleas Court of the 
county for a third of a century and still so acting, and Reuben Elliott, 
who served as county school examiner, are some of the teachers whom 
it is a pleasure to name. Samuel Freeman, the first school teacher, was 
also the first postmaster of Parma. Others who held the office of post¬ 
master were Oliver Emerson and Harry Humphrey. Parma has some 
mineral springs of medicinal value and quarries of building and flagging 
stone. The Cogswell quarry at one time produced a large quantity of 
material. 

Among those who have served as trustees of the township are names 
that suggest families whose descendants are numerous as were the trees 
of the forest when the pioneers came. Benjamin Fay, Samuel Freeman, 
Asher Norton, David Adams, Oliver Emerson, Asa Emerson, Peter 
Countryman, Daniel Green, John Wheeler, Reuben Hurlbut, Dudley 
Roberts, Rufus Scovill, Barzilla Snow, David Clark, Jeremiah Toms, 
Alfred Cleveland, Samuel S. Ward, Moses Towls, John J. Bigelow, 
Charles Stroud, James Walling, I. J. Lockwood, William Humphrey, 
Bela Norton, James M. Cogswell, William C. Warner, Phillip Henniger, 
William Redrup, Marcus A. Brown, Leander Snow and Philip Unkrich 
are among the number. Among those who served as township clerk are 
Lyndon Freeman, Reuben Emerson, O. J. Tuttle, Asa Emerson, F. F. 
Cogswell, James M. Cogswell, Palmer Snow, Edward Eggleston and 
Dr. S. B. Ingersoll. 

Among those who have served as treasurer—and history. does not 
record that there have been any defalcations—are Pelatiah Bliss, David 
Adams, Asa Fay, Benajah Fay, John A. Ackley, Jacob A. Stroub, Oliver 


86 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Emerson, David Clark, Marcus A. Brown, J. W. Fay, O. F. Nicholas, 
Charles Stearns and E. D. Cogswell. 

The present officers of the township are: Trustees, H. Gemeiner, 
J. D. Loder, A. E. Riester; clerk, L. H. Geiss; treasurer, J. F. Kottman; 
assessor, L. H. Geiss; justices of the peace, H. J. Schaaf and Herman 
Geltman; constables, W. F. White and Henry Thompson. 

The history of a township is the history of its people and we cannot 
record local incidents without following the invitation of Mr. Whittern, the 
Parma poet, who says: 

“Let’s run today in barefoot dreams 
Down leafy lanes of youth, 

To where the brook sings soothingly 
Its simple songs of truth.” 

As reflecting in a measure the home life of Parma, I have been per¬ 
mitted to draw from the unpublished memoirs of Jane Elliott Snow, 
authoress and coeditor until her death, at will. She lived a long time in 
Parma on the farm, married there and raised a family, taught in the 
little red schoolhouse and was a factor in the community for many years. 
In her introduction she says: “These memoirs are written at the urgent 
request of friends. They were not asked to be written nor are they 
written because I am great or have been great, nor are they written be¬ 
cause I have been the center of a high social circle and associated with 
great people. They are written solely because I have lived long and seen 
many changes. My life has covered the period of great epoch-making 
inventions and discoveries. It has covered the period when spinning, 
weaving and other industries were taken out of the home, where they 
were done by hand, and into factories, where they are done by machinery. 
During the first two decades and more of my life wood was used for 
heating and candles for lighting the homes. In farming communities— 
and half of my life was spent there—the roads were poor and a farm 
wagon was the nearest to a pleasure carriage that most people owned. My 
memory goes to a period ante-dating the Civil war by a number of years. 

I remember well the bitter controversy over slavery that was often heard 
in our local community. With other mothers, sisters and daughters I 
felt the woes, the grief, that comes into the homes because of the suffering 
and loss of loved ones in the mighty conflict. I have witnessed the aston¬ 
ishment and mourning and heard the wail of a great people over the 
martyrdom of three sainted Presidents. I have sorrowed much and have 
enjoyed much of life, and now, as the shadows begin to fall and my 
steps go down nearer and nearer to the final end, I try to recall only the 
pleasant things in life and to hope that ‘He who doeth all things well’ will 
pardon my offenses and at last take me to himself.” 

Mrs. Snow relates homely incidents of her life on the Parma farm: 
“After my marriage our home was a favorite place for young people to 
meet, and back in the days just preceding the Civil war there were many 
interesting gatherings. A cousin, John M. Wilcox, who was afterwards 
sheriff of Cuyahoga County, and editor of The Cleveland Press, then a 
young man, was teaching his first school in the neighborhood. He made 
his home with us, as did my brother Reuben, who was attending the 
school. John was tall and slender while Reuben was thick set. They 
would improvise little plays and charades for the evening’s entertainment 
for the family, and sometimes for the young folks of the neighborhood, 
who were invited to witness them. As my brother and cousin were the 
‘star actors,’ one would button his coat about him to make himself appear 
even more tall and slender, while the other would stuff a pillow under his 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


87 


coat to represent the fat man. The amusing acts they performed created 
a lot of genuine fun. 

“Brother Eugene went through the Civil war, being first with the 
Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and afterwards with the One Hundred 
and Twenty-fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, but sometimes he was home 
on a furlough, as he changed regiments because of the complete annihilation 
of the first and because he was wounded at the battle of Chickamauga. 
‘Gene,’ as he was called, was a pretty good singer of current songs and when 
with us added largely to the amusement repertoire. There were many 
bright young people in the neighborhood, who frequently visited at our 
home and often took part in the entertainments. They were Mary and 
Eliza Sloan, Sarah and Estella Sackett, Nellie Prindle, Julia Snow, Viola 
Snow, Mary, Katie and Julia Kline, Eva, Mary and Katie Kontz and others. 
Then, too, our home was a kind of half-way house between Royalton and 
Cleveland. As I was one of a large family on my mother’s side, and as 
many of the relatives lived in Royalton, they often called on their way to 
and from the city. My refreshments were sometimes only a cup of tea and 
a piece of bread and butter, but for these they were welcome and our asso¬ 
ciations were most congenial. The day that Perry’s monument was dedi¬ 
cated—it was a bright September day, 1859—many of my friends attended 
the ceremony, as nineteen of them stopped on their way home and took 
supper with me. I did not witness the ceremony as I had a little one at 
home to care for. 

Among the delightful people who visited our home were a number 
of good singers, among them being the Stevens, Abbott and Clark fami¬ 
lies. Mr. Abbott taught singing school for many years. Lucretia Clark 
played the melodian and always had the latest song and newest book. The 
Akers family were specially favored with the gift of song. The mother, 
Mrs. Joseph Akers, before her marriage had a little melodian that she 
carried with her when she was expected to sing, and the music she would 
get out of it was not only surprising but delightful. During the decade 
of the ’60s war songs such as “John Brown’s Body Lies Moldering in the 
Grave” and “Marching Through Georgia” were sung at every social 
gathering. As we were near Cleveland, young girls would often come from 
the city and teach a summer term of school. Among the number was Miss 
Josephine Saxton, a pretty, ladylike young woman, who afterwards be¬ 
came Mrs. Ammon, and had a beautiful home on Euclid Avenue. She 
was prominent in philanthropic work and a member of some of the 
earliest woman’s clubs of the city. For her interest in a poor girl, whom 
she felt was unjustly treated, she was summoned to court to answer as wit¬ 
ness in the case. As she refused to make known the girl’s whereabouts, 
she was sent to the Old County Jail for contempt of court. 

While in jail, which lasted for six weeks, Mrs. Ammon had her cell 
nicely fitted up with rugs and other luxuries from her home. Here she 
received, most graciously, her many friends and the time seemed to have 
passed in a very enjoyable manner. The judge who sentenced her to a 
brief term of imprisonment said it ‘‘was a case where a woman was con¬ 
demned for not talking.” After her return home Mrs. Ammon had the 
cell duplicated in her palatial residence, and over the door were the words 
“Welcome the coming and speed the parting guest.” 

The Fourth of July was usually observed at the country tavern with 
a ball, when dancing would begin at 2 p. m. and last until morning. The 
young ladies who attended these balls usually wore a plain gown in the 
afternoon and took with them a dainty white or colored muslin to wear 
in the evening. Quadrilles and cotillons were the favorite dances. There 
was very little waltzing and such things as the “cake walk,” “turkey trot” 
and the “tango” were then unknown. 


88 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


The imprisonment of Mrs. Ammon, which Mrs. Snow refers to, at¬ 
tracted very wide newspaper publicity at the time and became a sort of 
mystery reel in serials shown in the daily press. The girl of whose where¬ 
abouts Mrs. Ammon remained silent was finally brought into court and 
turned over to her legal guardian. 

Number 6 of range 13 has not escaped the general spirit of progress. 
The little red school has been. supplanted and the original township 
organization has been broken into by the organization of a municipality, 
from its territory, called Parma Heights Village. This was originally 
a separate school district, but now the schools are all united. Parma 
Heights Village was organized in 1912 with John Stadler as mayor, R. N. 
(“Roddy”) Hodgman as clerk and B. O. Stroud as treasurer. Mr. 
Stadler served two years and was succeeded by E. W. Denison, who 
served for four years. The next mayor was Edwin J. Heffner, who 
also served four years. George Heffner, a brother of Mayor Heffner, 
was a member of the first council of the village. The present officers of 
the village are: Mayor, J. B. McCrea; clerk, Mrs. Bernice Uhinck; treas¬ 
urer, Walter Geiger; assessor, Henry Wetzel; councilmen, E. W. Denison, 
Mrs. Julia Eastman, George Geiger, A. R. James, G. A. Hahn and W. H. 
Rose. Mr. Hodgman served continuously from the organization of the 
village, as its clerk, until his death in 1922. Vernon Croft is justice of 
the peace or police justice of the village. The board of education con¬ 
sists of C. H. Miller, Carl Haag and Henry Schaaf. In the place of the 
nine schoolhouses in the various school districts there are now three, the 
high school at the center, a graded school on the State Road, corner of 
Wick, and a graded school on the Wooster Pike. Busses are operated 
in carrying the pupils to and from these buildings, as has become the 
settled practice over the county. 

John A. Ackley, whom we have mentioned as having served as town¬ 
ship treasurer, later served as treasurer of the school board. Mr. Ackley 
was a half brother of Lorenzo Carter, the most famous of Cleveland 
pioneers, and had many of the characteristics of that gentleman, being tall, 
stout and fearless. He was engineer in the building of the Ohio Canal, 
built the first stone pier at Cleveland Harbor, and was regarded in his 
day the best authority on water control and coffer-dam construction in 
the country. He was employed by the United States Government on many 
important building enterprises. He was the first marshal of the Village 
of Cleveland, Ohio. His son, John M. Ackley, now living at the age 
of eighty-eight, followed in his steps as an engineer and was for several 
years county engineer of the county. His work as surveyor is shown in 
innumerable plats made by him for the county records and their accuracy 
has never been questioned. Mr. John M. Ackley has furnished the writer 
with papers connected with the schools of Parma while his father was 
treasurer of the school board. In 1843 the school certificates, signed in 
the main by J. W. Gray, school examiner, have at their head the legend 
“Education is the Palladium of Liberty.” Among the teachers thus 
commissioned to teach and whose meager salaries are recorded were 
Julia A. Beals, Emily T. Gillett, Abigail H. Andress, William Wheeler, 
S. W. Haladay, Charles H. Babcock and Caroline Humphrey. Another 
list dated 1851 included O. O. Spafford, L. R. Thorp, S. W. Chandler, 
Frances C. Eaton, Eliza Storer, Frances Huntington and William Taylor. 
Perhaps the most famous pupil of the “Little Red Schoolhouse” of Parma 
was John D. Rockefeller. His father, Doctor Rockefeller, moved to 
Parma after 1853 and William, Frank and John D. attended the district 
school there. William and Frank for a longer time, as John D., being the 
oldest of the boys, soon got work in Cleveland. 


CHAPTER IX 


INDEPENDENCE 

In the original survey, Independence is described as township 6 in 
range 12. In the matter of streams, so important in the early days, it is 
well provided. The Cuyahoga River divides it into two unequal parts 
and Tinkers Creek enters the Cuyahoga within its boundaries. On the 
north is original Brooklyn and Newburgh, on the east Bedford, on the 
west Parma and on the south Brecksville and a portion of Summit County, 
Northfield. It contains much rich bottom land and the soil generally is 
adapted to varied farming. Hemlock Creek flows through it from the 
west with falls providing considerable water power. It has quarries of 
sandstone (Berea grit) and blue stone. An extensive vein of red clay 
extends through the township and this in later years has proved to be 
valuable, being used in the manufacture of tile and pressed brick. Earlier 
the output from the quarries was very large. The portion of Independence 
east of the Cuyahoga was surveyed in 1808. The first settler, who came in 
1811, was a man by the name of William King. He lived on lot or tract 
4 for a number of years and then mysteriously disappeared. George 
Comstock and Mary, his wife, came as permanent settlers in 1812 and 
located on lot 4. Here they lived and died. They had three sons, Peter, 
George and Fitch, who remained on the old homestead. In this year and 
the following two other Comstock families came to Independence. One 
located on lot 2 and the head of the family died in 1815, leaving two sons, 
Fitch and Joseph, and a widow. Daniel Comstock settled on lot 4 and 
died shortly afterwards, leaving three sons, Albert, Stephen and Leonard. 
The old records are silent as to daughters, but they may have existed, 
unsung if not unwept. In this neighborhood in 1813 came Samuel Wood. 
He had two sons, Silas and Harry. In the same year Lewis Johnson, a 
blacksmith, located there, and this necessary industrial, social and political 
headquarters mingled its sparks of wit and iron and local news. Johnson 
had a large family, but only one son, Thomas, is remembered in the annals. 
Philander Ballou located on the south side of Tinkers Creek, near its 
mouth, about the same time as the Johnson family. Along the valley of 
this creek many settlers located quite early in the history of the township, 
among them Daniel Chase and Clark Morton. A daughter of Morton 
was drowned while crossing the Cuyahoga in a canoe. Clark Morton had 
two sons, Daniel and Silas. Thomas, Samuel and William Morton settled 
in this neighborhood about this time. 

After the building of the Ohio Canal this neighborhood was the home 
and rendezvous of Jim Brown, the famous outlaw. Joseph M. Poe, who 
had often seen Brown in the days of his prime, described him to the writer 
as a man of fine personal appearance and of most pleasing manner. He 
was a kind neighbor and many instances are related of his deeds of charity 
and neighborly kindness. His operations were confined largely to the 
counterfeiting of gold coins. He did not bother with silver of less denom¬ 
ination than one dollar. His exploits continued for a long period of time 
and included some of the most daring escapes from the clutches of the law. 
At one time he passed, in Cleveland, a large quantity of counterfeit gold 

89 


90 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


coin. Before doing this he had arranged with confederates a relay course 
from Cleveland to Buffalo, having fast riding horses stationed at various 
points along the way for a night ride. He rode the distance without stop¬ 
ping except to change from one horse to another, a fresh horse replacing 
a tired one. He appeared in Buffalo to many as soon as possible after 
his arrival. He was arrested and brought to Cleveland for trial. He set 
up an alibi and brought witnesses from Buffalo to testify as to his presence 
there. These were the days of slow and laborious transportation, of woods 
and heavy roads. He was found not guilty, the trial judge holding that 
it would have been impossible for him to have been in Cleveland at the 
time the crime was committed and in Buffalo at the time proved by credit¬ 
able witnesses. Brown was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky, at one time. 
A citizen there attracted by his good looks and pleasing address consented 
to give bond for his appearance on the condition that Brown deposit with 
him the amount of the bond. This was done and the prisoner released on 
bail. He did not appear and the money deposited to secure the bond 
proved to be counterfeit. His death occurred on the Ohio Canal near the 
scene of many of his most daring escapes. In attempting to elude capture 
he jumped from the gate beam of a lock to the deck of a canal boat that 
had just reached the low level in the lock and died from the injuries 
received in the fall. 

In the valley of the river Asa and Horace Hungerford were located as 
early as 1813 and in the southeast part of the township Stephen Frazer 
and Horace Dickson located soon after. North on the old state road which 
leads through the Center, Zephaniah Hathaway, a Vermonter, settled in 
1816 where he resided until death at the age of more than ninety years. 
He had two sons, Alden and Zephaniah 2nd. The sons of Alden were 
William, Rodney and Edwin and of Zephaniah 2nd were James and Milo. 
Jonathan Fisher, another Vermonter, came in 1816 and located on the 
farm later owned and operated by a descendant, Lloyd Fisher, who was 
prominent in township affairs and served as county commissioner of 
Cuyahoga County. North of the Fisher farm Elisha Brower located 
in 1817 and soon after died, leaving four sons, John David, Pinckney, 
Demiel and William. Still north a settler by the name of Ives took up a 
farm in 1819. He had a son named Erastus. David Skinner was an early 
arrival, settling on a farm west of the present Willow station of the Balti¬ 
more Railroad, formerly the Valley Road. A group of families came in 
1813 to the northern part near the River settlement, the Cochran, Miner 
and Paine families. William Green came from Brecksville in 1817 and 
settled on what was known later as the Fosdick place. He had five sons, 
Harvey, Elijah, Jeremiah, Herod and Frederick. There were several 
daughters. Emily married a Fosdick and remained on the old place. In 
the same year, up the river, came John Westphal and the community was 
augmented in its industrial life bv a shoemaker. In 1823 he sold out to 
Smith Towner and his son, D. D. Towner. Clark Towner later occupied 
the place. John I. Archibald and William Harper, sons of Col. John 
Harper, a Revolutionary soldier, came from Delaware County, New York, 
in 1816. They had started westward in 1810, stopping first in Ashtabula 
County and then John I. moving to Independence. He had two sons, 
Erastus R. and DeWitt C. and three daughters, whom the early chron¬ 
iclers do not name except to state that one of the daughters married H. C. 
Edwards of Newburgh. The family was increased by a boy by the name 
of John Maxwell, who was bound out to Mr. Harper after the" custom of 
the times. This boy, after his apprenticeship with the Harpers, moved 
farther on and became sheriff of a county in the far west and was killed 
while making the arrest of a desperate character on the border. In 1814 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


91 


a man by the name of Case came with his family and a few years later 
was killed at a raising at Peter Comstocks, hour sons survived him, 
Chauncey, Asahel, Harrison and one other. Nathaniel P. Fletcher came 
this year and supplanted a “squatter,” whose loose property he bought. 
T his man’s name was Samuel Roberts. Mr. Fletcher in 1833 moved to 
Oberlin, where it is said, he helped to found the college. In 1816 Ephraim 
S. Bailey and John Rorabeck located in the south part of the township. 
The latter was a soldier in the War of 1812. 

Col. Rial McArthur, who surveyed the east part of the township 
in 1808, and later served as a colonel in the War of 1812, came as a 
resident of the township in 1833 but remained only a short time. John 
Wightman was an early settler, coming in 1812. He resided in the town¬ 
ship until his death in 1837. His daughter, Deborah L., became the wife 
of William H. Knapp, who came to the township in 1833. West of the 
Cuyahoga there were very few settlers until 1825. Ichabod Skinner settled 
there in 1818. He had three sons, Gates, Prentice and David P. On the 
road south of the Skinner farm Abram Garfield, father of the President, 
lived for a few years prior to 1820, when he moved with his family to 
Orange Township. Caleb Boynton, an early arrival, died there in 1820 
leaving four sons, Amos, Nathan, William and Jeremiah. Other families 
who early settled on the west side of the river were those of William 
Currier, John Darrow and Jaud Fuller. Among residents of the west side 
prior to 1843 may be named: John Needham, Moses Usher, William Bush- 
nell, William Buskirk, Nathaniel Wyatt, Amos New land, Jacob Froelich, 
John Wolf, William Van Noate and Jeremiah Goudy, and east of the river, 
Moses Gleason, Allen Robinett, Roger Comstock and Col. Rial McAr¬ 
thur, whom we have mentioned. 

The township records prior to 1834 have been destroyed and hence we 
have no record of the organization of the township, the selection of the 
name, etc. The first officers as shown by the remaining records, being for 
the year 1834, are: Trustees, John I. Harper, J. L. M. Brown and Marvin 
Cochran. Clerk, William H. Knapp. Treasurer, Jonathan Fisher. Con¬ 
stables, Orange McArthur and Jonathan Frazer. Overseers of the Poor, 
Enoch Scovill, Enoch Green, Fence Viewers, Alvah Darrow and Nathan 
Wyatt. Justice of the Peace, David D. Towner. Enoch Jewett, Stephen 
Frazer and S. A. Hathaway were judges of election and George Comstock 
and Alva Darrow clerks, and there were seventy-one votes polled. The 
Cleveland Leader dated April 13, 1874, has an Independence item as fol¬ 
lows : “The election passed off with the usual amount of scratching. The 
following ticket was elected: Justice of the Peace, O. P. McMillan; trus¬ 
tees, George Sommer, George W. Green and D. L. Phillips; clerk, C. H. 
Bushnell; treasurer, C. Hannum; assessor, Joel Foote; constables, W. 
Towner and C. Adams. Henry Doubler was quite seriously injured last 
week bv his horse running away. A large gang of men are at work upon 
the Valley Railroad near the slip.” Work on the Valley Road, now the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, was started in 1873. The Ohio Canal was 
located through the township in 1825 and opened for traffic in 1827, having 
four locks in the township. Thus it was nearly fifty years before the town¬ 
ship emerged from the slow traffic of the canal to the swifter traffic of 
the railroad. The canal, however, as late as 1890, was in operation carry¬ 
ing heavy freight and, in its northern division, grindstones from the quar¬ 
ries of Independence were a prominent factor. These were drawn by 
teams to the canal except in the case of a quarry operated by Erastus 
Eldridge, M. Shirman and others, who built a horse railroad to the canal 
for the transportation of their products. Independence stone became well 
known also as a building product. Aside from the one mentioned there 


92 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


were the Kinzer, the Hurst and the Clough quarries. The pillars of the 
Weddell House, once the finest hostelry in Cleveland, were taken from the 
Independence quarries. There were no early gristmills in the township. 
In 1825 sawmills were built on Hemlock Creek by Ring and McArthur 
and Clark and Land. In 1835 Finney and Farnsworth built a dam across 
the Cuyahoga River and operated a sawmill by its water power and below 
this a Mr. Sherman operated a mill for turning and polishing grindstones. 
This was later operated by John Geisendorfer, who served as county com¬ 
missioner of Cuyahoga County. When the canal was built its excellent 
water power was utilized by A. Alexander, who built a gristmill on its 
banks in the township and ground grain for a large area, his customers 
coming from his own and surrounding towns. This was later operated by 
Clark Alexander, his son, who like Mr. Geisendorfer served as county 
commissioner. Cabinet organs were made in the northern part of the 



Old Weddell House 

township by Palmer Brothers for some years. In this section extensive 
acid works were operated at one time. Crossing the Cuyahoga from the 
south by the state road you came to Acid Hill as it was termed. These 
works were engaged in restoring to available form refuse matter from the 
oil refineries, and employed a large force of men. Spent acid was shipped 
to the works by canal when navigation was open. Refuse from these 
works was conducted into a large lake on the lower level and there burned. 
Practical chemists have now learned the secret of making use of prac¬ 
tically all of the by-product of the refineries and the acid works have long 
since passed away, but the memory of those blighting fires remains. The 
great columns of smoke ascending by night and by day, the wierd fires, 
typical of those once described as awaiting for the unbeliever, the black¬ 
ened grass and trees are the setting, in memory, of Acid Hill. 

The use of concrete, the larger development of the Berea quarries, 
nearby, and the larger capitalization of the stone business has operated to 
practically close up the quarries in Independence and the output at present 
is small. The great vein of red clay that extends westward from the 
Cuyahoga River to the western boundary of the township has taken the 
place of stone in the industrial activities of the township. The Hydraulic 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


93 


Pressed Brick Company on the Baltimore & Ohio Railway, by the river, 
and extensive brick and tile works in the western part of the township, 
connected with Cleveland by rail, have an annual output of great value. 

Among those who have served as trustees of the township are Alva 
Darrow, Jr., Zephaniah Hathaway, Jasper Fuller, Enos Hawkins, Elihu 
Hollister, John L. Harper, John Rowan, Alfred Fisher, William Buskirk, 
William H. Knapp, Daniel E. Williams, Elias M. Gleason, Harry McAr¬ 
thur, Finlay Strong, William Van Noate, William F. Bushnell, D. D. 
Towner, John Scofield, James Miller, Watson E. Thompson, William H. 
Perry, William Green 2nd, Milo N. Hathaway, George W. Green, George 
Sommers and D. Fullerton. Among the clerks are Alfred Fisher, William 
H. Knapp, Harry McArthur, B. H. Fisher, I. L. Gleason, J. D. Hathaway, 
Benjamin Wood, J. K. Brainard, G. B. Pierce, William B. Munson, O. P. 
McMillan, C. H. Bushnell, D. S. Green, Frank Brown, I. B. Waltz and 
D. Gindlesperger. Among the treasurers have been Jonathan Fisher, 
D. D. Towner, E. R. Harper, John Scofield, I. L. Gleason, George W. 
Green, John Bender and Carl Brown. The present officers of the town¬ 
ship are: Trustees, Carl Kuenzer, John Fuerstein and Edward Lingler; 
clerk, A. B. Waltz; treasurer, John Lingler; assessor, Henry Froelich; 
constable, William Apel; justice of the peace, C. Peters. Mr. Apel suc¬ 
ceeded Henry Froelich as clerk. 

We have referred to Ichabod Skinner, a settler, coming in 1818, and 
his three sons, Gates, Prentice and David P. David P. Skinner while 
living in a brick house on the Skinner Hill, west of the present Willow 
station in the valley, was murdered in his home in the year 1868. He was 
a milk dealer, was reputed to be a man of means and had a safe in his 
house for the care of money and valuables, a piece of furniture somewhat 
rare in a country home in those days. Three men entered the house at 
night, were discovered by Mrs. Johns, a sister of Mrs. Skinner, who 
engaged them in close combat. She had one of the burglars by the hair 
in a desperate grasp, her husband, Mr. Johns, was battling a second with 
a chair, when Mr. Skinner, awakened by the noise, was shot by the third 
bandit as he rose from his bed. Two of the bandits were captured. Davis 
was tried and on the testimony of a second prisoner, “Hutch” Butterfield, 
and others who turned state’s evidence, convicted and hung. Some time 
afterward a change was made, and executions since that time were con¬ 
ducted at the penitentiary at Columbus. Butterfield was given a prison 
sentence but rumor has it that he was released later, or that a man called 
“Hutch” Butterfield lived for some years a quiet life in a small town in 
Northern Ohio, not very far from Cleveland, that it was common gossip 
that he had served a prison sentence, but that neither he nor his wife ever 
referred to the fact. The disclosures of Butterfield in the trial also inpli- 
cated an officer of the police force of the City of Cleveland who was not 
tried in court but was forced to resign his position. Butterfield testified 
that he had only a knife on his person when he entered the house, adding 
that a knife was better than a gun in close quarters. It seems the assault 
of Mrs. Johns, who was the first of the household to attack, was so unex¬ 
pected and violent that neither knife nor gun would have been available. 
A little woman but the descendant of a hardy pioneer, she showed the mettle 
of the race. Mr. Johns was in charge of the round house (at Cleveland) 
of the Valley Railway for many years. 

Before 1830 a tavern was kept on the canal by one Kleckner, in a house 
built by Philemon Baldwin, and farther south on the river was “Mother 
Parker’s” tavern, referred to in the chapter on Bedford, which had a 
farflung reputation. In 1836 Peter Crumb opened a public house north 
of the center. Subsequent landlords were Mr. Hartmiller and George 


94 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Sommers. This was often called the “Yellow Grocery.” The color was 
yellow during some if not all of its most active work in providing for the 
wants of travelers but the groceries retailed were mostly wet. In 1852 a 
very fine tavern was built at the Center by Job Pratt. This was a fine 
hostelry for the time with a balcony extending; along the entire front of 
the budding and conveniences up to date. A picture preserved by its last 
proprietor, with the balcony and lower front filled with people, presents 
a most attractive appearance. Mr. Pratt was succeeded as landlord by 
Jake Fultz and he by George Hollis. Mr. Hollis had a fine trotter and 
Mr. Fultz not succeeding very well in the tavern business sold him the 
tavern for the horse. Later Mr. Hollis sold the tavern to the proprietor, 
before him, and removed to Brecksville to engage in the same business 
there. It is not recorded whether these men simply traded back house for 
horse and horse for house or some other deal was consummated. In the 
years that followed many changes occurred. Fultz was succeeded by 
Gunn, Eaton, Alger and Brobeck in the order named. It was last pur¬ 
chased by Levi Wolff, the present owner. Mr. Wolff kept tavern for 
many years and still lives alone in the once attractive building. His father, 
John Wolff, came to Independence in 1840 from Pennsylvania. He lived 
for a time in Wayne County before coming to Cuyahoga. His wife Cath¬ 
erine and the children, then born, were with him. He purchased fifty acres 
of land on the cross roads for $11 an acre, showing that land had increased 
in value since the first pioneers came. They had seven children, Henry, 
Jake, Dave, Elizabeth, John, Dan and Levi. 

Levi is the only one living. He married Elizabeth Gindlesperger, by 
whom he had five children, Charles Eugene, Benjamin Franklyn, Jesse 
Lee, Clark and Ida. Franklyn, Jesse and Ida are living. The mother, 
Elizabeth, who was born in 1841, died in 1909, since which time, the 
children being married and away, Levi has lived alone in the old hotel 
building, its outer covering the worse for the storms of the seasons and 
the corroding hand of time, its interior lacking the care of the housewife. 
He is ninety-four years of age, the oldest person in Independence. There 
is not a person living in the township today who was there when he came 
with his father as a boy. 

Next to the tavern and the blacksmith shop as a gathering place in the 
early days was the postoffice. The first postoffice opened in Independence 
was at the home of Nathan P. Fletcher on the east side of the river. Mr. 
Fletcher was the first postmaster. For some years the postoffice was at 
the residence of the postmaster, wherever that chanced to be. The daily 
mail and the cheap letter and paper postage made the central location of 
more importance in later years. About 1845 the postoffice was permanently 
located at the Center and in 1875 another one was established at Willow. 
Following Mr. Fletcher, who was the first postmaster, came in their order 
William H. Knapp, Nathaniel Stafford, John Needham, B. F. Sharp, 
J. K. Brainard, George Green, Calvin Hannum, C. IT. Bushnell, George 
Usher, D. Gindlesperger, Leonard Merkle and C. W. Ferguson. The 
present postmaster is John Wisnieski, who was preceded by R. S. Mitchell. 
John Kingsbury, one time amateur baseball hero on the Brecksville nine, 
was the first postmaster of Willow, which position he held until his death. 
John Needham, referred to as one of the postmasters of Independence, 
who, as we have said in another chapter, carried a daily mail on horseback 
from Cleveland to Brecksville during the four vears of the Civil w~ar, was 
the grandfather of May (Needham) Schmitt of Lakewood who has been 
prominent m the organization of the Daughters of Veterans. Mr. Needham 
was an interesting and useful factor in the anxious days for those at home 
during the great struggle. He had sons in the war and could mingle his 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


95 


personal and general news as he would call out in passing a dooryard: 
“Good news for you but bad news for me. We’ve won the battle but my 
son’s wounded,’’ and similar news from day to day. 

There were no stores worthy of notice in the township until the opening 
of the Ohio Canal. The traffic in passengers as well as freight was con¬ 
siderable and trade sought the tow path. I. L. and Edward M. Gleason 
opened a store at the twelve mile lock, among the first in the township. 
Travelers on the canal could buy while boats were sinking in the lock to 
a lower level or rising to a higher level as the case might be. This added 
to the trade from the surrounding farmers made business rather brisk. 
Others, including Merrill, Rutter, Oyler and Bender, engaged in trade, 
operating department stores on a small scale. Soon after the Crumb tavern 
was opened north of the Center, Benjamin Wood opened a store there. 
The first regular store at the Center was kept by Horace Bell. He was 
succeeded in the same locality by J. K. Brainard, George Green, Josephus 
Brown, Charles Green and Charles Memple in their order. Competition 
becoming necessary to healthy trade, as the population increased, other and 
rival stores were opened. Epaphroditus Wells began trade opposite the 
tavern and nearby Jacob and Samuel Foltz and 1. L. Gleason opened 
another store. Currier and Watkins opened a shoe store and their suc- 
cedent was Calvin Hannum. In 1867 the mercantile business of the town 
was augmented by the opening of a store by P. Kingsley and his succedent 
was C. H. Bushnell. I. L. Gleason finally adopted the profession of law 
and practiced in the courts of the county and in the justice courts of first 
resort. His tact and eloquence in the latter made his name a household 
word in a large area of the county. 

The first schools in Independence were established east of the river. 
In 1830 there were four school districts. In 1850 there were 611 youths 
of school age in the township and in 1879 there were 696 males and females 
of school age, a rather small increase in twenty years. In 1870 a two-story 
building was built at the Center, called the high school, having two school 
rooms, the present building occupies the site of the old, which was torn 
down. The district schools have been abandoned following the plan 
adopted by county and state. Work has commenced on a high school 
building at the Center to cost $60,000 or $75,000. A bond issue has been 
voted for $100,000 for the building but the whole amount authorized 
will not be used. On account of the brick and tile manufactured in the 
township so near the building place, time, labor and expense is saved. 
Reminiscent of the “Little Red School House,’’ two schoolhouses are still 
the property of the township, one on Rockside and one in the Lembacher 
district. These are not used, as busses bring all pupils from a distance to 
the grade and high schools at the Center. The present school board 
includes A. H. Webber, clerk, A. E. Sabin, president, and William Sitzler, 
Frank Sawyer and Richard Imar. 

Dr. William Munson was the first regular physician in the township. 
Several doctors came for short stays before his time. A brick house and 
attractive grounds overlooking Hemlock Creek was the home of Doctor 
Munson, who practiced in the town during a long period and until his 
death. Following him were Dr. S. O. Morgan (Sid), son of Doctor 
Morgan of early pioneer fame, Dr. Charles Hollis, son of George Hollis, 
tavern keeper in Independence and Brecksville, E. M. Gleason, son of the 
early pioneer mentioned, Dr. W. A. Knowlton. Sr., whose career we have 
mentioned, Dr. W. A. Knowlton, Jr., son of Dr. Augustus Knowlton, of 
local fame, Dr. I. N. Nolan, Dr. C. W. Dean, Doctor Lane and Dr. J. G. 
Layton, and Dr. Henry Morgan. 

The Congregationalists were the first religious people to found a per- 


96 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


manent church in the township. The first religious meeting was held 
October 1, 1836, addressed by Rev. Mr. Freeman, a Baptist from Cleve¬ 
land. In February of the following year a Baptist congregation was 
organized but it only existed for a short time and then dissolved. wShortly 
after a Methodist class was formed, which dissolved after a few years of 
activity. Its meetings were held at various homes in the township but there 
was no settled minister and circuit preachers officiated from time to time. 
The organizers of the Congregational Church, now Presbyterian, were 
Reverends Chester Chapin and Israel Shaller of the Missionary Associa¬ 
tion of Connecticut. On the 24th day of June, 1837, the church was 
formed with the following members: William F. Bushnell and wife, James 
and Mary Miller, Betsy Brewster, Jane and Elizabeth Bushnell. William 
Bushnell was elected deacon and James Miller clerk. The meetings were 
first held ‘in a log schoolhouse at Miller’s Corners and then in the town 
hall. On the 17th day of October a society of the church met to attend to 
its temporal affairs. Through the activity of this society the present meet¬ 
ing house was built in 1854. In 1862 the church became Presbyterian, 
uniting with the Cleveland Presbytery. Rev. B. F. Sharp was active in the 
building of the new church. Unlike most other religious denominations the 
Evangelical Association of Independence first built their church and then 
organized. This attractive brick structure was built at the Center about 
1860, largely through the efforts of Rev. T. G. Clewell. January 7, 1873, 
the first Board of Trustees was organized as follows, George W. Green, 
George Merkle, Francis Pilliatt, Henry Wentz and Mathew Bramley. 
Services have been conducted in both the English and German languages. 
The present minister is Rev. J. R. Niergarth. St. John’s Evangelical 
Lutheran Church was organized by residents in the northeastern part of 
the township in 1850, or rather at that time the agitation began with the 
idea of having a place of worship nearer home. On the 14th day of 
October, 1854, a frame meeting house was dedicated for worship by Rev. 
Mr. Schwan of Cleveland. Here the meetings were held until the erection 
of a fine church on a site opposite in 1879. 

A Roman Catholic church was built northwest of the center of the 
township in 1852, which was used for services until the larger congrega¬ 
tion demanded more commodious quarters. The present church building 
in that locality was planned and its construction started in 1870 but pro¬ 
gressed slowly. The building committee were George Gable, Joseph 
Urmetz, Peter Wild, Albert Doubler, Anton Eckenfelt and Joseph 
Effinger. This committee had its troubles. Not yet completed, in 1873 
the walls were blown down by a severe storm. The following year the 
walls were again built up and the building completed for use in 1875. It 
was consecrated in December of that year by the Right Reverend Father 
Gregory and Bishop Fitzgerald. A school has also been maintained by 
this church. Anton Eckenfelt, mentioned as one of the building committee, 
operated the Spring Mill in Brecksville for many years and was well 
known to all residents there. 

The latest church building to be erected in the township was that 
built by the Evangelical Lutheran congregation about 1912 at the Center. 
It is a neat building quite modern in structure and was consecrated by 
Reverend Bay. As in the case of Parma, these religious organizations 
reflect the character of the inhabitants and it is probable that a census 
of Independence would show about the same percentage of German and 
foreign born people as did Parma. 

In politics the town has generally been democratic, at times close, and 
once at least it went republican. In the presidential campaign of James 
G. Blame against Grover Cleveland, Blaine carried the town by two 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


97 


majority. The republicans were so rejoiced over the night returns that 
their enthusiasm found its vent in Hallowe’en stunts. One man who had 
been active for Cleveland found his heavy two-horse wagon the next morn¬ 
ing on the top of his barn. It was all in complete running condition, the 
heavy box in place and a short board placed under the pole as he had left 
it in his yard. The later returns, which gave the election to Cleveland, 
dampened the enthusiasm of the young republicans and they came down 
to earth, and we will assume that the wagon came down also. 

A well-known landmark on the State Road south from the Center is 
a stone house on the Bramley farm built by the grandfather of M. F. Bram- 
ley of Cleveland, of whom we will speak in another chapter. Here Fred, 
as he is called, spent his youth and indulged in the pranks common to 
active youngsters in the country. The old Bramley homestead still stands 
and passers of a former time remember the stout presence of the original 
Bramley as it often appeared in the field or doorway of the old home 
farm. When this house was built stone was the wealth of Independence, 
aside from agriculture, and the house was a sort of emblematic structure. 
It is occupied at present by George Bramley and family. 

We have referred to several of the Independence settlers, who served 
in the War of 1812. At the breaking out of the Mexican war or the year 
previous (in 1845), a muster roll of the township was taken by Albert 
Fisher, showing seventy-three men liable to military duty. This would 
indicate that the Government was preparing for the conflict and finding 
out in advance just what its strength was in man power. In the Civil war, 
the Spanish-American and the World war, Independence furnished its 
full quota of soldiers. In 1863 the township was formed into two mili¬ 
tary districts. Number 1 was east of the Cuyahoga and number 2 west 
of the Cuyahoga. 

The only indication of the temperance sentiment in the township in 
the first four decades of its existence was when a vote to regulate the 
liquor traffic was taken in 1851. The vote stood thirty-four for and sixty- 
eight against. 

The State Road through the Center and the River Road were the first 
to be used and improved. Citizens worked out their poll tax and mended 
the dirt track often to its disadvantage. The Pratt Road from the river 
to the Center was laid out in April, 1852. Other roads of intersecting 
character were soon after laid out. The first genuine road improvement 
came when the paved road through to Brecksville was built by the county. 
This was about 1890. Now the throngs of automobiles, busses and trucks 
that traverse the brick pavement through the township testify to its value. 
Says one: “This is the biggest and most important improvement that has 
ever been inaugurated in the township.” 

The original territory of the township has changed with the march of 
events and at the present time the Township of Independence includes a 
strip of land along the west side of the original survey. In March, 1839, 
a portion of the northwest corner was annexed to Brooklyn Township. 
In the last two decades the territory east of the Cuyahoga has been annexed 
to Newburgh and incorporated into two villages, South Newburgh and 
Newburgh Heights, and, most drastic of all the changes, on June 1, 1914, 
the Village of Independence was created. This includes the Center or the 
tract originally set aside by L. Strong for a public square and village. 
Strong, a first purchaser and promoter, had this tract surveyed into five- 
acre lots, which he sold at auction and the sales were made at from $9 
to $10 per acre. The Village of Independence as incorporated includes 
much more territory than that of the Strong survey, but the public square 
as planned by him is as he intended it to be. The first officers of the 


98 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


village were: Mayor, Frank Wisnieski; clerk, Ed Tryon; treasurer, George 
Rose; councilmen, Charles Sizler, Grant Cash, Joseph Blessing, Frank R. 
Castle, Edward Lembecker and Herman Vunderink. At this first election 
Mr. Tryon was elected clerk but soon after resigned and Arthur J. Goudy 
was chosen. On Mr. Goudy was devolved the task of getting up the 
original records and establishing a system of accounts. How well he per¬ 
formed his task may be shown by the report of the state examiner, who 
pronounced his books the best he had examined. Mr. Goudy served nearly 
four years, completing the first term and being elected for two years 
more. He is now a deputy in the office of the Probate Court of the county. 
The first mayor was succeeded by William Cash and he by Alvin A. Smith, 
the present mayor. The other officers of the village are: Clerk, E. F. 
Keller; treasurer, George Rose; marshal, Jacob Lambacher; assessor, H. J. 
Faudel; councilmen, Joe Blessing, Peter Selig, Grant Cash, H. Vunderink 
and William Vunderink. F. X Esculine was elected and served until his 
death a short time ago. H. J. Faudel, whom we have mentioned as 
assessor, entered the district school with a very slight command of the 
English language and we believe his schooling was confined largely to the 
“Little Red School House.” He has lived in Independence from a boy. 
In 1893 he published a book entitled “Horse Sense,” which has gone 
through several editions. Although Mr. Faudel makes no claim to pro¬ 
fessional knowledge, his book has been favorably commented upon by 
men of the medical profession in high standing. He calls his book “A 
school of practical science upon the perplexing problems of today, per¬ 
taining to life and health.” The writer remembers Faudel as a pupil in 
his first school, in which he was endeavoring to teach “the young idea 
how to shoot.” He could hardly make himself understood in English, but 
was keen for knowledge and industrious to a most astonishing degree. 
We quote a few passages from his book: “The term ‘expert’ is too easily 
won and too lightly worn to be regarded with respect.” “You can remove 
a mountain if you take a little at a time, but you cannot remove it by 
hitching to it to remove it all at once.” “Money serves but to bring the 
things we need. It is supposed to buy health, but only serves as the 
agent. But a life devoted to the teachings of Nature will buy more than 
all the coins of the realm.” 

Of the fraternal organizations of Independence the Grand Army Post 
should be mentioned first. Formed about 1870, it continued in existence 
for many years as a part of that great but now greatly diminished organiza¬ 
tion. Unlike many, its ranks cannot be replenished, as Time thins out its 
numbers. Only those who served in the army of the Union during the 
Civil war are eligible to membership. Among those active in Independence 
Post have been Thomas Goudy, C. H. Bushnell, George Lambacher, Ed 
Patton, C. J. Green, Francis Bramley and Hugh Goudy. There was the 
Good Templars Lodge, whose activities continued nearly as long. The 
lodge of Foresters, the Maccabees, the Ladies of the Maccabees and the 
Catholic Beneficial Association are still actively operating as factors in the 
township and village life. 

An incident of historic interest which belongs to the chapter 
on Independence and has to do with the progress of events and 
particularly to a step forward in the practice of medicine in the county, 
is worthy of note here. William Goudy, a Scotch-Irish immigrant, one of 
the early arrivals in the township, who came from the north of Ireland, 
father of Thomas and Hugh Goudy and grandfather of Arthur J. Goudy, 
brought with him from the old country a stomach pump, which he sold 
to Doctor Streator, then the leading practitioner in Cleveland. This was 
the first one sold in Cleveland and the first one to be used in medical 
practice in the county. 


CHAPTER X 


ROYALTON 

We have referred to the passing of the township, that political sub¬ 
division of the county, lowest in the scale of authority, yet closest to the 
people. Adapted to the needs of a sparsely populated people in a limited 
area, fitting in with the neighborly fraternity that characterized the 
pioneers, it has stood until broken into by the village and city govern¬ 
ments. These changes have come as the natural requirement of increased 
population, wealth and industries, when, as Goldsmith expresses it: 
“Trade’s unfeeling train usurp the land.” And he adds, “And thou, sweet 
poetry! thou loveliest maid, still first to fly.” There is a glamor of the 
romantic and the poetic that clings to these first organizations formed in 
the woods of the Western wilderness, while yet the trail of the Indian is 
visible and the mounds of their predecessors, the Eries, or Mound Builders, 
are unexplored. Royalton and Strongsville are the only townships of 
Cuyahoga County whose territory and political entity remain the same 
as when first formed. A description of Cleveland, England, the north 
Riding of York, from a history published in 180S, would seem to describe 
quite accurately these early township organizations. From Cleveland, 
England, came the ancestors of Moses Cleveland and also a number of 
the early settlers of Royalton, who did not come here direct, but stopped 
for seme time in the East. We quote from the history of Cleveland, 
England: 

“Farmers form a very respectable class of society and deservedly rank 
high among their fellows in any part of England. They are generally 
sober, industrious and orderly; most of the younger part of them have 
enjoyed a proper education and give a suitable one to their children, who, 
of both sexes, are brought up in habits of industry and economy. Fortu¬ 
nately this country is purely agricultural and the inhabitants, solely culti¬ 
vators of the earth, are endowed with the virtues of their profession un¬ 
contaminated by the neighborhood or vices of manufactures. Justice is 
impartially administered and thereby the good order and comfort of 
individuals and the general happiness and prosperity of the country are 
invariably consulted and promoted.” 

The Arcadian atmosphere of Royalton must have been conducive to 
long life, for an inscription on the tombstone of John Shepherd, standing 
in the cemetery at the Center, who died in 1847, shows his age to have 
been one hundred and eighteen years, nine months and eighteen days. And 
Mrs. Eleanor Jacox, one of the early settlers of Royalton, who died there 
in 1888, was lacking a few days of ninety-nine years of age at the time 
of her death. She was the mother of eleven children and had eighteen 
grandchildren, twenty-four great-grandchildren and two great-great-grand¬ 
children when she died. 

This township number 5 in range 13 is bounded on the north by Parma, 
east by Brecksville, south by Medina County and west by Strongsville. 
There are no streams of size in the township, hence little mill power. A 
branch of the Cuyahoga, the Chippewa Creek, rises in the township, and 
a branch of the Rocky River flows through one corner. The first settle- 

99 


Vol. 1-4 


100 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


ment was made by a Mr. Clark in the southeast part in 1811. This was 
near the home of Seth Paine, the first settler in Brecksville who had 
authority as a land agent to sell, and it is probable he bought from him. 
Clark died and in 1816 his widow married Lewis Carter, who took up his 
residence on the Clark farm. Lorenzo Carter, a son of Lewis was the 
first white male child born in the township. He died in 1860. Henry A. 
Carter, another son, was born on this farm originally taken up by Melzer 
Clark, in March, 1819. Another son named Louis died in infancy. Almira 
Paine or Payne (the name is spelled either way), who married Melzer 
Clark, and with her husband had the distinction of being the first settlers, 
after bearing him three children as we have named, lost her second hus¬ 
band, who died when Henry A. Carter was but five years of age. She 
afterwards married Henry L. Bangs and they had several children. 



Lorenzo Carter 

Henry A. Carter married in 1844 Martha S. Frost and they had two 
children, Bertha E. Carter and Elwin L. Carter. Bertha married Erwin 
Paine, a descendant of the first settler of Brecksville, Seth Paine. Thus 
the lines of first settlers crossed. Henry A. Carter lived the later years 
of his life on the old farm and was succeeded at his death by his son 
Elwin L., who was married in 1879 to Amanda Snow of Brecksville, and 
they have resided on the old farm, the original settlement. By an unfor¬ 
tunate accident in the woods Mr. Carter was injured and died in 1923. 
He is survived by four children, all highly esteemed and successful, fit 
representatives of those who began, in toil, the building of a new 
civilization. 

On June 2, 1816, the second settlement was made, five years after 
Melzer Clark and wife located. Robert Engle and family and with him 
his father-in-law, John Shepherd, came from New York State and located 
on a farm half a mile from the Center. We have referred to Mr. Shepherd 
and the great age to which he lived. Mr. Shepherd had served as an 
attendant to a French officer under Braddock in his unfortunate Indian 
campaign and was present at the memorable defeat, was familiar with 
the historic interview when Washington, who knew of the dangers of 
Indian warfare, then a volunteer aide-de-camp to General Braddock, at- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


101 


tempted to advise that gentleman. “High time,” said Braddock, “high 
time when a young stripling can teach a British officer how to fight.” 
Robert Engle was quite famous as a hunter and trapper and when he died 
his daughter married Simpson Enos, or the marriage may have been 
before his death, but the couple remained on the farm. Up to the time 
when this farm was occupied, for five years, the Clark family were the 
only white people in the township. In 1816 Thomas and Henry Francis 
brothers, settled on adjoining farms half a mile north of the Center. 
Both spent their lives on their farms. Rhoda Francis, a daughter of one, 
was the first white child born in the township. In December of the same 
year, 1816, John Coates came with his family from Geneseo, New York, 
and settled on section 21. He built a house of round logs and the next 
year replaced it with a double log house. He was familiarly known as 
“Uncle Jackie Coates.” He bought 3,500 acres of land, known as the 
Coates tract, and the house was located near what is now called Walling’s 
Corners. The double log house was built by Boaz Granger, who took 
his pay in land. It was the first house in the township to have a cellar 
and was regarded as an aristocratic mansion. It was located on a high 
ridge overlooking a large area of the new purchase. Jane Elliott Snow 
in a history published in 1901 gives this interesting sketch of this Royalton 
settler of 1816: “John Coates was born in Yorkshire, England, and in 
early manhood was known as a sportsman. He kept his pack of hounds 
and was a Nimrod of the true English type. He owned an interest 
in a valuable trotting horse, and at one of the races bet all that he had on 
the fleetness of his horse. Fortunately for his family he won. A member 
of the family says he won a fortune of many pounds. At a later period 
in his life his tastes changed and his interest in the fast horse was ex¬ 
changed for the nucleus of a library. The possession of books inspired 
him with a desire to learn their contents, and soon the careless sportsman 
was changed to the thoughtful student. He became thoroughly well read 
and in his later years was noted as a man of scholarly tastes and acquire¬ 
ments. For Shakespeare he had an excessive fondness, and his volumes 
of that work, still preserved, bear marks of careful reading. On coming 
to this country he brought many of his works with him, and here in the 
wilderness of Ohio they were looked upon as a library of no little value. 
Oscar O’Brien, also a pioneer, said he often visited the Coates’ home, and 
to his boyish fancy that little library equaled in magnitude the famous 
Alexandrian library of ancient renown. Living as he did to witness the 
long struggle between England and her American colonies, his heart went 
out in sympathy for the scourged, bleeding, yet triumphant sons and 
daughters of liberty across the sea. He was a great admirer of Washing¬ 
ton and it is related of him that at a dinner party he proposed a toast to 
that hero, and so offended some of his friends that he was to a certain 
extent socially ostracised. He then declared that he would not live in 
a country where he could not honor so good a man as George Washington. 
With his wife and family of two sons and one daughter, the eldest son 
John coming with wife and two children, he sailed for America in 1803. 
Thirteen years later, there being then four heads of families, all came to 
Royalton, Ohio. Environment changed and fashions changed, but ‘mine 
host’ in the double log house continued to wear the short breeches and shoe 
buckles that were the style in his youth.” 

“Uncle Jackie” was sixty-seven years old when he came to his tract of 
wild land in Royalton, past'the age when he would be expected to engage 
actively in the clearing of the wilderness. He had sons and daughters, 
grandsons and granddaughters, who became typical pioneers. His interest 
it would seem was tinged with sentiment. The topography of the Cuya- 


102 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


hoga Valley is strikingly similar to that of the Leven in Cleveland, Eng¬ 
land. Call Lake Erie the North Sea, take away the great city which has 
arisen since he came, and you have Cleveland, England. The writer in 
1910 visited Cleveland, England, to verify the striking similarity in soil 
and topography of the two Clevelands. In coming to this locality John 
Coates located his purchase and built his home where he could survey 
a section very like his beloved Cleveland, England, but in a country whose 
government accorded with his democratic opinions. He died at the age 
of eighty-one. A long line of descendants have been farmers in Royalton. 
Catherine (Coates) Teachout, daughter of John Coates 2d, was the 
second white female child born in the township. 

In 1817 Jonathan Bunker came from New York. He had traded 
fifty acres of land near Palmyra, New York, for 150 acres in Royalton. 
Bunker belonged to that historic family that gave its name to Bunker Hill. 
Two of his brothers fought in the battle on Breed’s Hill, nearby, June 17, 
1775, one being killed and the other badly wounded. Ephraim Moody, 
a neighbor, accompanied Bunker to the West. They came in a sleigh drawn 
by a pair of horses. It must have been a well balanced trip for each one 
owned a horse. Some neighborly deal must have been consummated, 
however, for Moody stopped before reaching Royalton and Bunker com¬ 
pleted the trip alone. He reached the new farm in the morning and by 
night had a shanty built. For eight months he worked and when his 
family came they found a comfortable log house, a clearing, and crops 
well advanced. In all this intervening time Bunker had worked in soli¬ 
tude, often disturbed by wild beasts. Like others he hunted and trapped 
for recreation and profit. He was an expert rope maker and for some 
time in his early residence in Royalton furnished Cleveland with about 
.all the white rope used there. For its manufacture he used flax raised 
on his own farm and hemp bought of Mr. Weddell in Cleveland. He 
started the first nursery in Royalton and the orchards that were planted 
over the town were largely from his stock. In the year previous came 
Chauncey A. Stewart, John Ferris, Solomon and Elias Keys. Boaz 
Granger, already mentioned, came in 1817. He was a neighbor of Bunker 
in New York and it seems likely that he brought Bunker’s family with 
him, as he boarded at Bunker’s for some time after arriving. He bought 
land of John Coates on section 11, and in part payment built the double 
log house referred to and later built for him a frame building for a 
barn, which was the first frame building in Royalton. In this year of 
1817 there were a number of new arrivals. Samuel Stewart, a surveyor, 
who located on the State road, and was agent for Gedeon Granger for his 
Royalton land, Eliphalet Tousley, David Sprague, Francis Howe, Abial 
Cushman, Warren P. Austin, John Smith, Israel Sawyer, David Hier, 
Knight Sprague, Benjamin Boyer, Mr. Claflin and Mr. Hayes came that 
year. Samuel Stewart voted at the first election in 1818 and was the 
first clerk of the township. Was justice of the peace with Lewis Carter 
in 1819. Tousley settled in the southwest part of the township where his 
son James had made a clearing. James went back to school in New York 
and later returned to Royalton. The father resided in Royalton until his 
death. James removed to Brooklyn, where he died in 1879. David and 
Knight Sprague, brothers, came from Royalton, Vermont. Knight 
Sprague was blind, having lost his sight while working in a blacksmith 
shop in Vermont. He was astonishingly energetic and seemed to make 
up for his loss of sight by energy and some natural instinct. He was 
thought by his neighbors to locate objects as well as those who could see. 
An old record of the township recites the fact that in 1821 Mr. Sprague 
was elected fence viewer. How successful a blind man could be in that 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


103 


position we leave to the imagination, but it is a fact that he built the first 
town hall owned by Royalton. His activity and sagacity must have been 
unusual. It is related of him that at the organization of the township he 
succeeded in having it named Royalton, after his native town, Royalton, 
Vermont. He stated afterwards that it cost him a gallon of whiskey to get 
the designation. Just how the payment was made we also leave to the 
imagination. He died on the farm where he first lived. His brother 
David removed to Middleburgh. John Smith came from Vermont and 
was killed by a falling tree in 1823. His farm was located on section 7. 
Of the Hier brothers, who came in 1817 and located near the Strongsville 
line, John Hier died in Hinckley and David at Bennett’s Corners. 

In 1818 there were new additions to the Royalton colony. Among 
them, Henry Hudson, a doctor, farmer and Baptist preacher; James 
Baird, Asa and Samuel Norton, Kersina and John Watkins, Smith 
Ingalls and O. C. Gordon. Mr. Baird was one of Jonathan Bunker’s 
neighbors in New York, and what should be more appropriate than that 
he should locate next to Bunker here, which he did. To make the neigh¬ 
borly bond more close he married Bunker’s oldest daughter. They moved 
away in 1827. Asa Norton bought land of John Coates and paid for it 
in days’ work. The only time he had to devote to his own land, until it 
was paid for, was nights and Sundays. Samuel Norton earned his way 
as a teamster between Cleveland and Medina and then took up a farm 
on section 11. Both Nortons lived out their lives in the town they had 
helped to found. Smith Ingalls settled for life on a farm next to David 
Sprague’s. He had the distinction of being the first postmaster of Royal¬ 
ton. The first store was opened at the Center by Royal Taylor in a ten 
by twelve log house about 1827. Later he moved to Brooklyn and his 
brother Benjamin took the store and in addition to his duties in connection 
therewith practiced medicine. Located near the Center at this time were 
William and James Tousley, Kersina and John Watkins and a Mr. Bost- 
wick. Meanwhile the clearings grew larger, grain ripened in the fields, 
the sickle and the flail were in capable hands, the orchards were bearing, 
some propagated from the nursery of Jonathan Bunker, and some grown 
in part from seed brought with care by the settlers from the East. The 
flocks and herds had grown. Gardens flourished in the new soil and 
flowers were about the homes of the pioneers. 

In the log house days wrestling and other feats of strength came in as 
recreation and amusement for the hard-working pioneers. A man’s 
ability to lift and wrestle beyond his fellows was a distinction that gave 
him prominence. Scuffling in a good natured way was one of the off 
duty recreations. Mrs. Snow gave me this Royalton incident illustrative 
of the ministering hand of woman in certain emergencies. At the Annis 
home, a log house, two or three sons and the hired man slept in the loft. 
In a scuffle before retiring one man’s trousers were thrown into the fire 
and were burned. As a result of this accident, the wardrobes of those 
days not being so complete as in later years, the owner of the lost trousers 
stayed in bed all day while Mrs. Annis made him a pair out of an old 
military cloak. The days of the sewing machine had not arrived. 

In 1828 York Street was laid out and on it Mr. Briggs, William Ferris, 
William Gibson, John Marcellus, Page Claflin, John Tompkins, James 
Bunker and George Abrams built houses. In the west part of the town¬ 
ship Samuel Gibson built a sawmill and afterwards Thomas and James 
Goss built another. These were steam sawmills, there being, as we have 
said, little water power, but the abundance of timber made them profitable. 
In the southeast part of the township, in 1830, Harvey Edgerton built a 
steam sawmill and here located Sardis and Harvey Edgerton, Barlow 


104 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Brown, Mr. Akins, John Edgerton, Lewis Miller and Otis Billings. The 
first marriage in the township was that of Asa Norton to Lovey Bunker. 
The knot was tied by Squire J. B. Stewart, and this was that officer’s 
maiden effort in that line. He, no doubt, became hardened to the ordeal 
with a larger experience, but the justice of the peace in Royalton who held 
the record as the marrying justice was Squire Edwin Wilcox, whose record 
exceeded all others. He married for himself Jane, a daughter of John 
Coates II. 

There was no gristmill in Royalton in the early days and the nearest 
was Vaughn’s log gristmill, the site now included in the boundaries of 
Berea. Vaughn was an enterprising fellow, and, as the way led through 
a dense forest, he would meet his customers half way. Freeman Bunker 
used to relate how he went to mill with three bushels of corn on horse¬ 
back and how the wolves had gathered around him at the tryst and how 
they would scatter as he hallooed for Vaughn. He said bear and deer 
were plentiful and wild turkeys too common to notice. There was no 
frame dwelling in the township until 1827. This was built by Jonathan 
Bunker. In 1821 was held the first Fourth of July celebration. There are 
no minutes as to the speakers but we will assume that the Declaration 
of Independence was read and listened to with interest. The first tavern 
was kept at the Center by Francis Howe. It is claimed by some that the 
first tavern kept in the township was one operated by Charles Coates. This 
was in the north part of the township and on the site for so many years 
occupied by the Asper House. Across from the hotel was the Sherwood 
home. Here Judge W. E. Sherwood, familiarly known as Ned Sherwood, 
was born and spent his boyhood. He was a rare soul. After serving in 
various public positions in Cleveland he was in 1889 elected to the Common 
Pleas bench and served but a short time when death called. The writer 
remembers him when he began his work upon the bench and until his 
death was in close relationship. In his presence the social thermometer 
always went up. He had a personality most charming, a rare gift of 
expression, and as a judge was frank, knightly and fair. Gallant, gifted, 
brilliant Ned Sherwood! Too soon the summons came. 

Until 1825 the people of Royalton had to go to Cleveland for their 
mail. This was usually worked out by changing accommodations. One 
person having an errand to Cleveland would bring the mail for the rest. 
Finally James W. Weld of Richfield established a sort of mail route, en¬ 
tirely unofficial. He brought letters and papers to different residents for 
fifty cents per week, making his trips to and from his home in Richfield, 
Summit County. In 1825 a postoffice was* established and Smith Ingalls 
appointed postmaster, but as he lived in a part of the township away from 
the Center he deputized S. K. Greenleaf, who lived there, to transact 
the business of the postoffice. A weekly mail was established, and with 
the letters came the weekly newspaper, by reading of which the pioneers 
were well posted in real news. Among the early postmasters were 
William Tousley, Tristram Randall, Lorenzo Hopkins, W. W. Stockman, 
Charles W. Foster, S. W. Chandler, Lewis Granger, Joseph W. Smith, 
M. S. Billings, Byron Babcock and Thomas Coates. 

Royalton being elevated so much above the sea level, being the highest 
territory in the county, a signal station was established here by the Gov¬ 
ernment, when this system was first put in use in connection with the 
Weather Bureau. The station was located north of the Center and be¬ 
cause of its height and the mystery of its operation was an object of 
interest for some time. It has been abandoned for many years. 

The Teachouts came to Royalton in 1837 and Abraham Teachout, Sr., 
was the first man to do away with liquor at raisings. Mr. Teachout had 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


105 


entered into a partnership with Robert Brayton to build a sawmill. At 
the raising the usual whiskey was expected. After the neighbors had put 
the sills in position they called for the whiskey. They were informed that 
this was to be a temperance raising. This was thought to be impossible. 
Church brothers offered to buy the whiskey, arguing that the frame could 
not go up without it. Teachout mounted a log and delivered an eloquent 
temperance address, concluding by informing the men that if they were 
not willing to do the work without liquor they could go home. They 
finally, after much consultation, decided to try it out. Many argued that 
there was danger that some one would get hurt, as whiskey was supposed 
to supply the necessary strength at critical moments and thus avoid acci¬ 
dents. It is a historical fact that the frame went up and no one was 
injured. In place of the whiskey a fine feed was given the men and after 
a game of ball the men went home to relate the novel experience. This 
mill was completed and put in operation November 10, 1845. The son, 
Abraham Teachout, Jr., followed in the footsteps of his father on the tem¬ 
perance question. While in Royalton and after removing to Cleveland, 
where he built up the great industry still operated under the name of 
A. Teachout and Company, he was an unswerving advocate of prohibi¬ 
tion. He was at one time a candidate for mayor of Cleveland on the 
prohibition ticket and received the largest vote ever given a candidate for 
that office on that ticket. 

Before 1818 Royalton was under the jurisdiction of Brecksville and 
in that year, October 27th, the county commissioners set off number 5 of 
range 13 as a separate township. The first election was held at the house 
of Robert Engle, November 9, 1818. Robert Engle and David Sprague 
were chosen judges and Chauncey A. Stewart, clerk of election. The 
officers elected were: Trustees, David Sprague, Francis Howe and Elias 
Keys; clerk, John B. Stewart; treasurer, Chauncey A. Stewart; fence 
viewer, Benjamin Boyer; appraisers, Robert Engle and Elias Keys; super¬ 
intendent of roads, Abial Cushman; justices of the peace, John B. Stewart 
and Samuel Norton; constable, Abial Cushman. Through some lack in 
procedure the election of justices of the peace was set aside as illegal and 
a new election ordered. At this election John B. Stewart and Lewis Carter 
were elected and their commissions were dated August 10, 1819. At this 
first township election in which David Sprague was elected trustee and 
preceding which, in town meeting, the blind brother as well as David 
had been active in securing the name of Royalton in honor of their native 
town, Royalton, Vermont, we notice that David was also judge of election. 
The Spragues were active in .township affairs for many years. In the 
Brooklyn Bridge Beacon, a small local paper published by the Union Trust 
Company, we quote a recent item reciting the death of a descendant, Calvin 
Sprague, who was well known over the county: “Mr. Calvin Sprague of 
Broadview Road, one of Brooklyn's Civil war veterans, died on Septem¬ 
ber 13th. He was born July 24, 1837, in Royalton, Ohio, and lived there 
until his enlistment in the Union army in 1861. He was one of the first 
men to enlist from Royalton. He saw service with the Sixth Ohio Cavalry. 
Mr. Sprague returned to Royalton and married Miss Sarah Garlock of 
Parma. He operated the old Pearl Street House fifty years ago, after¬ 
wards being connected with the old Brooklyn car line under Tom L. John¬ 
son. Interment at Royalton." 

Since the death of Mr. Sprague, Justin Bark of West Thirty-third 
Street, Cleveland, Ohio, is the oldest living of the early residents of 
Royalton. He related to the writer an incident of his early childhood in 
which the joke is most assuredly on the preacher. Death and destruction 
were preached more in those days than the sunny side of religion. While 


106 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


a very young child Mr. Bark was permitted to attend the funeral of Boaz 
Granger. Other children had told him that at a funeral you could see the 
corpse. In his seat in the church by his mother he peered in all directions 
but no corpse was visible. Finally from behind the pulpit a sallow austere 
countenance arose to begin the service. 1 he little fellow was all ^excite¬ 
ment, his curiosity had been rewarded. “Oh, Ma!” he cried aloud, “there’s 
the corpse.” 

Among those who have served as township trustees were David 
Sprague, James Bird, Francis Howe, Eliphalet Tousley, Elias Keys, John 
Ferris, Lewis Carter, John Smith, Jonathan Bunker, Parley Austin, Israel 
Sawyer, Ezra Leonard, Isaac Isham and Isaac Isham, Jr., Samuel Norton, 
Jr., C. A. Stewart, Boaz Granger, Smith Ingalls, William Teachout, James 
Tousley, John Watkins, James W. Wild, Edward Schofield, W. D. East¬ 
man, R. K. Tousley, C. Brunson, Zara Searles, John Coates II, Ebenezer 
Bostwick, John B. Stewart, O. C. Gordon, Harvey Edgerton, J. B. Stewart, 
Robert Wilkinson, Francis Bark, Edwin Wilcox, William Farris, Daniel 
A. Miner, Rowley Leonard, Joseph Teachout, Asa Varney, S. M. Wilcox, 
Rufus D. Gibson, Thomas Bark, Thomas B. Coates, Sardis Edgerton, 
John Marcellus, Charles Bangs, John Tompkins, Henry Akins, W. W. 
Stockman, B. S. Tyler, Charles Robinson, O. H. Claflin, Orvill Bangs, 
Thomas Bolton, William Spencer, Simon Wilkinson, Hamlin Miller, 
George Mathews, Oliver Taylor, Freeman Norton, Joseph Turney and 
Justin Bark. 

The spelling of some of the family names has changed with the years. 
Searles was originally written Sarles and old silver in the possession of 
the family is marked Serls. Howe was written How and Tousley, Tows- 
ley. Among the clerks of the township have been J. B. Stewart, James 
Tousley, Charles Teachout, Abram Teachout, Joseph Smith, William 
Hodkinson, Thomas Coates, George S. Morrell, John M. Wilcox, M. G. 
Billings, Farnum Gibbs and A. E. Akins. Among the treasurers have 
been C. A. Stewart, Thomas Francis, Parley Austin, John B. Davis, John 
Watkins, Francis Howe, O. C. Gordon, H. M. Munson, Lewis Flowe, 
Edwin Wilcox, Alonzo Searles, William Searles, Martin S. Billings, James 
Tousley, L. S. or Lambert Searles and Oliver Taylor. In the history of 
the township there have been no defalcations. After L. S. Searles had 
held the office of treasurer for twelve consecutive terms it was charged 
that he had appropriated township funds and was short in his accounts. 
On that rumor he was defeated for reelection, but when the new treas¬ 
urer, Oliver Taylor, took office Mr. Searles turned over to him at once 
the funds of the township, to a penny, in currency, leaving that gentleman 
a little worried for the time being as to their safe keeping. The present 
officers of the township are trustees, Thomas Hurst, J. E. Thompson, 
G. H. Edgerton; clerk, B. W. Veber; treasurer, E. C. Cerney; assessor, 
Jan Dolezel. As to the justices of the peace, L. W. Craddock was elected, 
as shown by the books of the county auditor, but the records of the county 
clerk show only O. D. Clark as acting justice at the present time. The 
constable is J. H. Brunner. 

The first church organized in the township was the Baptist. Rev. 
Henry Hudson was the organizer and pastor until his death some twenty- 
five years later. It was formed in 1818. The first members were Henry 
and Priscilla Hudson, William Dyke, James, Wfilliam, Lydia, John and 
Clarissa Teachout, Relief Austin and Merrick Rockwell. William Dyke 
was the first deacon. Reverend Hudson served at an annual salary that 
rarely exceeded $50. Rev. S. S. Watkins followed Mr. Hudson for a 
long period. Reverend Conley was the third pastor. For a long time the 
meetings were held in schoolhouses, but in 1850 a building committee con- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


107 


sisting of Thomas Redrup, Francis Norton and John Edgerton was 
appointed and the stone church at the Center built. The Disciples were 
the next in order. On invitation of Ezra Leonard, Reverend Hayden held 
services at his house in 1828. Others came and preached in houses and 
barns. At one time services were held in the barn of John Ferris and 
a number of converts were baptised. In 1829 a church was organized 
in a schoolhouse by the efforts of Reverend Hayden, with Jewett M. Frost' 
as elder. This church now has a building at the Center. Next in order 
came the Free Will Baptist and the Methodist Episcopal churches. 
The Free Will Baptists began meetings at the Center in 1836. In 1843 
the place of meeting was changed to Coates’ Corners (now Walling’s 
Corners). An entry on the church records reads as follows: “February 
18, 1843, Brethren in Royalton met in monthly meeting, had a good time 
but under some trials. Received three members, J. Bunker, M. Varney 
and S. Horton, and moved the church down to Coates’ Corners.” Services 
there were held in a scholhouse until 1850, when the church was built 
north of the Center. Thirty years later the pastor was Rev. J. H. Bald¬ 
win; trustees, George Kendall and Francis Miner; deacons, George Ken¬ 
dall and Francis Bark. The Royalton Methodist Episcopal Church began 
its meetings, like the rest, in a schoolhouse. The first meetings were held 
in 1836. Rev. Hugh L. Parish and Reverend Fitch, circuit riders, were 
the first preachers. This church has never had a settled pastor, being 
on a circuit, first the Brooklyn Circuit, then Brunswick, then Hinckley and 
then Brecksville. The first elders were Jewett M. Frost, John B. Stewart, 
Adin Dyke and William Buck; deacons, Almon Eastman and Henry 
Bangs. 

Mrs. Jane Elliott Snow, who was born in Royalton and lived there 
until her marriage, in writing of her early life says: 

“On Sundays we were all carefully dressed and taken to a church 
some three miles distant. In those days James A. Garfield, then a student 
at Hiram College, and others of his classmates came there to preach, and 
such audiences as there were. People came from many miles around. 
They filled the seats, the aisles, the vacant space around the pulpit, they 
crowded at the door, and, in summer, they crowded outside the open 
door to listen to the eloquent sermons that were being preached. In 
those days of the Disciple Church none but able men, eloquent men and 
men zealous for the cause were chosen to expound their doctrine. Not 
all the religious meetings in country towns in those early days were as 
interesting and profitable as those I have mentioned. Many of the 
preachers were wholly uneducated and some of them exceedingly noisy. 
As there were two schools of churches in town, one Calvinist, the other 
Free Will Baptist, the question of the future state of the soul was a 
prolific theme of discussion. It was not unusual to see groups of men 
standing outside of the schoolhouse during recess at religious meetings. 
I learned as I grew older that they were discussing the question—Whether 
or not a man could work out his own salvation? One argued that if a 
man was born to be saved he would be saved and if he was born to be 
damned, no earthly power could save him. Occasionally a Universalist 
minister would conduct services in the little schoolhouse. At that time 
I was familiar with a Child’s History of the United States, that was well 
filled with bright colored pictures representing various scenes and in¬ 
cidents in our country’s history, among them being one of Mr. Dustin 
and his family escaping from the Indians. As the savages advanced 
nearer and nearer to the fleeing family. Mr. Dustin thought he would 
sacrifice one child to their fury, with the hope of saving the rest. But 
which child could he spare? Alas, none! For he loved them all alike. 


108 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


This was the illustration the Universalist minister, Rev. Mr. Hull, used to 
prove his doctrine. This sermon created a general discussion throughout 
the neighborhood, which continued for some weeks. 

As all the churches in the town believed in immersion for baptism, 
and as none were equipped with an artificial font, the ceremony had to 
be performed in some natural reservoir. A pond of clear water located 
in the midst of a wood belonging to my uncle, Thomas Coates, and at 
least a quarter of a mile from his house was the place frequently chosen 
for these spiritual washings. Winter was the time usually chosen for 
the ceremony, and though the person baptised had to ride in a lumber 
wagon or sled, to the house with nothing but a quilt or blanket over their 
wet clothes, it was the claim of the believers that no serious effects had 
ever resulted from the ceremony. People were baptised in this pond when 
the ice had to be broken and the water constantly stirred with a rake to 
prevent its freezing before all the candidates were immersed. Besides 
theology, two other questions in my childhood days occupied the public 
mind, one was temperance, the other slavery. In my tenth year I attended 
the exercises at'the close of a term of school in an adjoining neighborhood, 
when song and recitations bearing upon these two subjects made up the 
programme.” 

In 1854 there were nine Catholic families in Royalton. At their re¬ 
quest Bishop Rappe came out from Cleveland and held services at the 
house of Thomas Montague at Royalton Center. Others followed in 
similar meetings, Fathers Hannan, John and Hally. In 1868 the building 
now used as a church was purchased. The first trustees were Patrick 
Flynn, William Manny and James Morris. 

July 5, 1859, Empire Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of 
Royalton, was instituted. The charter members were Charles and Orvill 
Bangs, Joseph W. Smith, John Marcellus, William Frost, Thomas S. 
Bark, Wesley Pope, J. T. Akers, Edwin Banks, George Johnson, Charles 
Heath and L. S. Searles. In 1864 the lodge built a building at the Center 
with lodge room above and room for a store below. In 1878 twenty of 
the members withdrew to form the Brecksville Lodge. This is the only 
fraternal order now represented in the town. The Grand Army Post 
has gone with the years, and the Good Templars Lodge with the trend 
of events. 

And now as to the schools and the first teachers—William Tousley and 
Oren Abbott have both been mentioned as the first teacher. The con¬ 
sensus of opinion however gives the honor to Eunice Stewart, who taught 
in the northeast comer of section 5. John B. Stewart was the second 
teacher there. In a log schoolhouse put up on section 19, William Tous¬ 
ley was the first teacher and Abial Cushman the second. In 1830 the 
township was divided into four school districts, number one with thirty- 
five families, number two with twenty-two, number three with sixteen 
and number four with seventeen families. Later the number increased 
to nine districts. Fractional districts were established in many parts of 
the county to better accommodate the pupils. These including portions 
of several townships, were located according to the demands of the 
settlers. The woods, the heavy roads and the winter snows made them 
necessary. The fractional district at Bangs’ Corners was made up of 
territory from four townships and at one time there were pupils attend¬ 
ing the school from four townships and three different counties. The 
advent of good roads which has made possible and brought about the 
use of school busses and the centralizing and classification of the schools 
has not been fully taken advantage of by the township, owing to the lack 
of buildings. There are still some schools operated in the “Little Red 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


109 


Schoolhouse.” There is a high school at the Center and the town hall 
is used for school purposes. In November of 1922 a bond issue for 
$90,000 was voted by the people for additional school buildings. Plans 
are being drawn by Fulton, Taylor and Cahill of Cleveland for the enlarge¬ 
ment of the high school building at the Center to include larger facilities 
for the high school and grade schools as well. Among the teachers of 
the early days Sam Chandler is well remembered as a disciplinarian of 
so vigorous a type that he has left a lasting memory. In 1880 the school 
enumeration of the township was 365. 

In 1866 James Wyatt opened a cheese factory in the township and in 
1869 Charles Bangs and L. S. Searles continued in the same enterprise. 
Mr. Wyatt removing to Brecksville to continue the same business there, 
left the field to the latter firm. In 1871 Bangs went out of the firm and 
started a factory of his own and Mr. Searles formed a partnership with 
A. E. Akins, which continued for three years, whereupon he continued 
alone until 1877. Royalton being a dairy section, these industries were 
important until the demands of the City of Cleveland for milk warranted 
their discontinuance. 

The first death in Royalton was that of Catherine Coates, wife of 
Charles Coates, mentioned as the first tavern keeper. She was buried 
on the family lot on the tract at Wallings’ Corners and later was removed 
to the cemetery at the Center. 

Like all the townships, Royalton has made its contribution to the 
county. We have referred to Judge W. E. Sherwood and to Jane Elliott 
Snow, author, lecturer, student and biographer. Another comes to mind 
as we close the chapter, Albert E. Akins, the apostle of clean politics, 
who served in various capacities in the courthouse and then as county 
auditor, was the first president of the Tippecanoe Club, after its incor¬ 
poration, one of the builders of the Cleveland & Southwestern Railway, 
he devoted his life to its service and gave it. Still another, Abraham 
Teachout, whom we have mentioned, who built up in Cleveland the great 
industry in sash, doors and blinds, that has been a part in the great indus¬ 
trial life of Cleveland. 


CHAPTER XI 


STRONGSVILLE 

If Strongsville had no other claim, two men that she has furnished 
to this community would give her a prominent place in our history. 
Judge Carlos M. Stone, than whom while he lived no man in the county 
was better or more favorably known, and Dayton Clarence Miller, pro¬ 
fessor of physics at Case School of Applied Science, author of many 
works. Carlos M. Stone was born in Strongsville March 27, 1846. A 
child in the district schools, a student at Oberlin, graduate at the Ohio 
State and Union Law College, admitted to the bar, at the age of twenty- 
five we find him prosecuting attorney of Cuyahoga County. This was in 
1871. His term of two years expiring we find him practicing law in 
the firm of Brinsmade and Stone and then in the firm of Stone and 
Hessenmueller. In 1879 he is again prosecuting attorney and is reelected 
in 1881. His total service in that office covering a period of seven years, 
he resumes the practice of law in the firm of Stone, Hessenmueller and 
Gallup. In 1885 he began a long service as judge of the Common Pleas 
Court. While serving on the bench, at the earnest solicitation of his 
party friends who believed him to be the strongest candidate that could 
be named, he contested for the office of mayor of the City of Cleveland. 
Defeated, he again ran for reelection as judge and won bv his old time 
majority. As a judge he was not considered the most able of an espe¬ 
cially strong bench of associates, but he was rarely reversed by the 
higher courts. His evident fairness in the conduct of trials so impressed 
the parties in controversy that few appeals were taken. 

Dayton Clarence Miller, born in Strongsville, is the author of many 
works on physics. One bears the very comprehensible title of “The 
Science of Musical Sounds.” He is considered a great authority on sound 
and the leading man in that line in this country, if not in the world. Like 
most men of genius he has a hobby. In his childhood he delighted to 
play with the fife his father used in the Civil war. He is a collector 
of flutes, a hobby in line with his study of musical sounds. In an inter¬ 
view in the News and Leader recently he was asked: “What is occupy¬ 
ing your attention at present?” His reply was: “Finding out why 
some sounds are pleasant and why others are unpleasant. I am trying 
to make photographic records of sounds which shall be finer than the 
phonograph. I am working to find the scientific causes of tone quality. 
I study sounds through the flute.” “His laboratory at Case School,” said 
the News-Leader, “is one of the scientific show places of the world where 
he is ‘canning’ sound to last 15,000 years, and where he photographs the 
human voice.” His titles are Bachelor of Arts, Master of Arts and Doctor 
of Science. 

Before it was named, this township was number 5 in range 14. It is 
the most southwestern township in the county and contains about twenty 
square miles or 12,800 acres, being not fully five miles square. It was 
ceded to the Connecticut Land Company by the Indians in 1805 and was 
surveyed as a township in 1806. It was not settled by the white man until 
after the War of 1812, when settlements began to be made slowly. It 

110 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


111 


was purchased from the Connecticut Land Company in four parcels and 
is particularly distinguished by the high character of the original pur¬ 
chasers. In the division by the company, Hon. Oliver Ellsworth took the 
largest part, paying into the company $13,673 and Governor Caleb Strong 
nearly the same territory for which he paid $12,000. Two smaller pur¬ 
chasers were assigned the balance for which they paid $414. The prin¬ 
cipal purchasers, Ellsworth and Strong, were men of distinction. Oliver 
Ellsworth was born at Winsor, Connecticut, April 29, 1745. He was a 
statesman and jurist of national repute. He was United States senator 
from the State of Connecticut from 1789 to 1796, beginning his service 
with that of Washington as president, was appointed by Washington 
chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving as chief justice 
until in 1799 he was appointed envoy extraordinary to France. Caleb 
Strong was born at Northampton, Massachusetts, January 9, 1745. He 
was a leading patriot in the Revolution, a member of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1787, Federalist United States senator from Massachusetts 
1789 to 1796 and governor of Massachusetts 1800 to 1807 and 1812 to 
1816. William Wolcott Ellsworth, a son of Oliver, also served as governor 
of Connecticut, 1838 to 1842. These distinguished purchasers did not 
come to the West, but appointed John Stoughton Strong to act for them 
as land agent and he came from Connecticut with a stag party consisting 
of Elijah Lyman, Guilford Whitney, William Fuller, Obadiah Church and 
Mr. Goodell in 1816. Strong was a small, active, energetic, nervous 
man, a good business manager, but not a typical pioneer. This party 
drove from Connecticut in sleighs. Strong located his headquarters a 
little northeast of the Center and all hands went to work on the log 
house, which was to serve as residence and business headquarters for 
the land agent of Ellsworth and Strong. The township had not been 
surveyed into lots and as soon as the headquarters was established and 
their bachelor’s hall in running order the survey began. Strong was 
not a surveyor, but he engaged a surveyor from Newburgh, and Whitney 
Goodell, Church and Fuller acted as chain men. Without any information 
to the contrary we will assume that Lyman acted as cook at the head¬ 
quarters. 

The township was surveyed into lots half a mile square containing 
160 acres of land. The western tier of lots, however, were not 
full, as the township is not five miles square. These lots were numbered 
beginning with number 1 in the southwest corner, then numbering north 
and south until number 100 in the northeast corner concluded the survey. 
As in all the townships of the county the setting of corner stones by the 
original surveyors was carefully and thoroughly done. Once set, these 
monuments have been rarely disturbed. “Cursed be he that moveth a 
corner stone,” was adopted by the pioneers as an injunction to be regarded. 
In the early days this act was looked upon as the basest of all criminal 
acts. The survey was the principal business at first, but two or three 
small clearings were made and some crops planted, when in March, 1816, 
John Hilliard and wife and a little daughter, Eliza, came from Connecti¬ 
cut. They immediately took up residence in the log mansion and Mrs. Hil¬ 
liard, then only twenty-two years of age, with her little daughter to care 
for, became the housekeeper for the colony, the only woman in the town¬ 
ship. Bachelor’s Hall was transformed. She had her pioneer shocks 
and housekeeping drawbacks. After breakfast, while sweeping the floor, 
she was startled by a sibilant rattle and discovered a large rattlesnake 
on the hearth. She called in the men, who killed it, and found it to be 
over five feet in length. She continued her sweeping, when another 
warning sound was heard. The men pulled up the loose floor and killed 


112 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


another rattler, the mate to the first. These incidents, while common in 
pioneer life, were naturally disquieting to a lone housekeeper in the 
wilds of Strongsville in 1816. 

Another menace aside from wild beasts was the Indians. They were 
supposed to be friendly after the War of 1812, but the tales of their 
atrocities so vividly told made their presence even singly a secret terror. 
One day in that first summer the men had all gone to a raising in Columbia. 
Lorain County, leaving Mrs. Hilliard alone with her little girl. A huge 
Indian armed with gun, knife and tomahawk entered the cabin and 
gruffly demanded, “Where is the man?” She told him that the men 
were not at home, answering truthfully. The Indian made no hostile 
demonstration, but without asking helped himself to a chair and sat 
down. The little girl with the fearlessness of childhood and that child 
instinct that detects the harmless and the harmful in human kind walked 
boldly up to him and gave him a piece of bread and butter which she 
was eating. The peace offering was a success. The Indian took the 
little girl on his lap and fondled her while he ate the bread and butter. 
The mother inwardly fearful looked on, but breathed a sigh of relief 
when the big warrior, shortly after, left without any parting salutation. 

About October 1st of this year, 1816, another family was added to 
the Strongsville colony. Guilford Whitney came with his wife and 
children, Flavel, Jubal, Vina and Betsey and a young lady, Charlotte 
Wallace. Miss Wallace was led to the western wilds by some attraction 
that flesh is heir to, for she was the bride in the first marriage that was 
solemnized in the township. This wedding occurred the following winter 
and Hollis Whitney was the other party to the contract. Abial Haynes 
came prospecting this month of October, 1816, and returned to New 
England to report. His report was favorable, for he returned with his 
father, Ahijah Haynes, Sr., his mother and their other son, Ahijah 
Haynes, Jr. In 1880 these sons were the oldest settlers in Strongsville. 
In 1817 there was a great shortage of grain in the township owing to 
the cold summer of 1816. In January, 1817, Mr. Haynes was compelled 

to go as far as Harrisville, now on the south line of Medina County, to 

get wheat. The distance was thirty miles and the drive was made with 
an ox team and sled. After dusk the wolves prowled around but did 
not come near enough to feel the club which Haynes carried for protec¬ 
tion. Arriving at Harrisville, Haynes had to thrash with a flail and 
winnow by hand the wheat and then pay $1 per bushel for the same, but it 
was food for the family and he was glad to get it. 

In 1817 other families had arrived and the colony was augmented 
by births. Chipman Porter, the son of Edwin, was the first white child 
born in the township and a few days later Frank Hilliard, the eldest 

of John and Mrs. Hilliard, was born and was the second birth among the 

pioneers. Before the year closed many families had taken up land in 
the township. The people came more readily to the high, dry and 
healthy farms of Strongsville than to the level but wet ground of Middle- 
burgh with its richer soil. Among the heads of families may be noted 
George F. Gilbert, James Nichols, David Goodwin, Wheeler Cole, Thatcher 
Avery, James Bennett, Thaddeus Hall and John and James Smith. This 
was a large immigration for one year. Axes were heard in all dffections 
and log houses arose like mushrooms in the field. John Bosworth cleared 
fifty acres for Mr. Strong and thirty were sown to wheat. And many 
small clearings were made, and sown to wheat so that the township 
became independent of the outer world for food. In this situation Mr. 
Strong decided he could now bring his family and you can see that the 
food supply was important as the family aside from his wife consisted 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


113 


of Warren C., Lyman W., John, Chipman, Emery, Benda, Franklin and 
Lavania. These came from Connecticut in 1818. The Olds family came 
this year. Among them Edson B. Olds, who in 1842 and 1843 served 
as a member of the Ohio General Assembly, then living in Pickaway 
County. There was G. L., L. W., C. N. and Dr. Benjamin B. Olds. The 
last named began the practice of medicine immediately on his arrival 
and had the distinction of being the first doctor in the township. This 
year also came Liakim Lyon and family, Josiah Carpenter and family, 
including Caleb, Zackary, David and Rufus, Zara D. Howe and family, 
including Manser Howe, A. P. Howe and Z. D. Howe, Otis and N. D. 
Billings, Mrs. McNeil, Mrs. G. C. Olds and Apollo S. Southworth. 
Ansel G. Pope came this year and opened the first blacksmith shop. He 
lived in the township to a ripe old age. We have thus enumerated 
the first settlers, the first woman resident, the first marriage, the first 
birth, the first doctor and the first blacksmith. D. S. Lyon said that 
when he came there was hardly a stick of timber cut between Strongs¬ 
ville and Cleveland. The main road, afterwards the turnpike, was marked 
out four rods wide. The underbrush and saplings were cut but the 
large trees remained and the roadway wound about them. Liakim Lvon 
settled about a mile from the south line of the township. The Goodwins 
and Bennetts were the only near neighbors. Lyon occupied Bennett’s 
house for a time. He said they were often disturbed by the howling 
of the wolves at night. At one time annoyed by the wolves he attempted 
to drive them away by setting his dog upon them, but the dog was quickly 
driven in with his tail at half mast. In the summer of 1818 John S. 
Strong built a frame barn, the first frame building built in the township. At 
the raising all of the men in Strongsville and some from Middleburg 
and Columbia assisted. When the frame was raised, in accordance with 
some ancient custom, the men ranged themselves on one side of the plates 
and a bottle of whiskey was passed from mouth to mouth, as in the later 
custom of passing the loving cup in celebrations. When the last man 
was reached he imbibed the last of the contents and threw the empty 
bottle as far as he could. 

The peopling of the township was now progressing so rapidly that 
application was made to the county commissioners for the erection of a 
township to include the territory of number 5, range 14. A town meet¬ 
ing was called and the name Strongsville chosen in honor of John S. 
Strong. On February 2, 1818, the first election was held. It was 
presided over by Ephraim Vaughn of Middleburg. The judges of elec¬ 
tion were James Nichols, David Goodwin and Chipman Porter. John 
Dinsmore, James Nichols and James Smith were elected trustees; Seth 
Goodwin, clerk, and Guilford Whitney, treasurer. The fence viewers 
chosen were James Bennett and Benjamin G. Barber; constables, James 
Nichols and G. F. Nichols, and the superintendents of the highways, 
John Bosworth, John Dinsmore and Benjamin G. Barber. Barber de¬ 
clined to serve and Abial Haynes was appointed in his stead. In June 
the election for justices of the peace was held and James Nichols and 
Ahijah Haynes, Jr., elected. Like the City of Cleveland in some of 
its history, Strongsville did not always keep within its income as to 
expenditures. At the March meeting of the township trustees, held in 
1819, the expenditures were reported as $16.50, while the receipts were 
only $8.30. 

At the time of the organization of the township of number 5, range 14, 
now given the name of Strongsville, thus to remain, with territory at the 
present as at first formed, the two most important questions before the 
officials of the State of Ohio were education and highways. The message 


114 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


of Governor Thomas Worthington to the Legislature which adjourned 
January 30, 1818, was devoted largely to these subjects. In the previous 
Legislature a large number of turnpike companies were authorized and 
incorporated and more than 100 public roads ordered opened and im¬ 
proved out of the three per cent United States funds. Governor Worth¬ 
ington in a previous message had urged that the state join with individuals 
and private corporations in the construction of turnpikes and pointed 
out that the state’s share of the tolls collected would reduce the tax rate. 
This method of providing better transportation became general and 
Strongsville was blessed with a turnpike toll road. Incidents regarding 
the difficulties of early travel will show what a step in advance this must 
have been. In the year 1819 the settlement was augmented by the com¬ 
ing of Jonathan Pope and family, Ebenezer Wilkinson and family, Seth 
Bartlett and family, James Waite, Mosel Fowle, Chester G. Tuttle and 



Old Mill at Albion and Dam 

The building has been recovered, painted and the mill yard turned into a 

tourists’ camp. 

Ezra Tuttle, Jr., John Colton and family and Jeduthan Freeman and 
family. Two deaths occurred in this year, of young people, the first 
since the settlers came, Stoughton Strong, aged nineteen, and Polly Strong, 
wife of Lyman, aged twenty-one. A log house was built at the Center 
to serve as town house, schoolhouse and meeting house. This building 
served as a meeting house for all denominations of religious belief. The 
settlers transplanted their New England religion as a crop to be planted 
early. In 1817 the first church of Congregationalists was organized. 
Rev. William Hanford and Rev. Luther Humphrey brought this about. 
The first members were Ahijah Haynes and Jerusha, his wife, Guilford 
Whitney and Anna, his wife, Hollis Whitney and Barincey Hilliard. Guil¬ 
ford Whitney was the first deacon and Ahijah Haynes the second. 
There was no regular minister. Sermons were read and occasionally 
a traveling minister preached, the meetings being held in houses until 
the town house was built. This log house was replaced in 1825 by a frame 
building, which was used as was the former building for a schoolhouse, 
town house and church. In this year the First Congregational Church 
engaged a settled minister, Rev. Simon Woodruff. He served till 1834 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


115 


and w as followed by Rev. D. C. Blood and he bv Rev. Myron Tracy In 
1842 a division occurred and a free Congregational Church was formed 
and in 1853 a brick church was built. This was called the second Con¬ 
gregational Church. Among the Congregational pastors of Strongsville 
have been Revs. Elias Thompson, Timothy Williston, Charles E. Adams, 
Harvey Lyon, Amzi B. Lyon, A. W. Knowlton, James W. Turner, 
Gideon Dana, William Bacon, Lucius Smith and C. S. Cady. During 
the summer of 1819 a Methodist society was organized at the house of 
Jonathan Pope by Rev. Ira Eddy and Rev. Billmgs O. Plynpton. The 
first circuit, pastors were Rev. M. Goddard and Rev. Charles Waddell. 

To continue chronologically—in 1820 the first tavern was opened by 
John H. Strong. It was in a frame building built by Mr. Strong and 
was the first frame residence building, if it might be so called, in the 
township. Up to this time grinding had been done for the settlers at 
Vaughn’s mill in Middleburg or Hoadley’s in Columbia. Sometimes the 
water power gave out and the people had to go to mill as far as Tallmage 
or Painesville on the Chagrin River. Strong, the promoter, the energetic, 
the bundle of nerves, decided that this must not be. In the fall of 1820 
he built a gristmill on the branch of Rocky River at a point, later, the 
site of Albion, of poetic memory. E. Lyman was his millwright and 
A. J. Pope did the iron work. Thaddeus Lathrop, father of Mrs. 
Benjamin Tuttle, came from Middleburg and boarded the hands, who 
worked on the mill and was the first miller. A sawmill was built there 
about the same time. At the Center the only mercantile establishments 
were stores of small stocks of goods sold from the homes by John S. 
Strong, E. Lyman and John Bosworth. In this year Timothy Clark 
opened a store at the Center with a larger stock of goods and perhaps 
should be called the first merchant of the town. Plis stock was, however, 
not large. Other arrivals this year were Moses O. Bennett, Jesse Root, 
Benjamin Schofield, Cyrus Harlan and Nathan Britton and family. 

At this time the Hinckley Hunt, referred to in another chapter, had 
thinned the wild animals, but venison was common and mutton scarce. 
An expert with the rifle would shoot forty or fifty deer in a season, 
but the wolves were still in sufficient numbers to get the sheep ahead of 
the butcher. There was still that lurking fear of wolves and panthers. 
This gave rise to some jokes on the settlers that became the theme of 
conversation in the store and blacksmith shop. Abial Llaynes related 
how his father’s family were disturbed for several nights by the screams 
of a panther. Finally this became so terrifying that one night he sallied 
forth with rifle in hand to end or be ended. Discovering a pair of shining 
eyes in the woods which he decided were the panther’s, he fired and 
hastily retreated to the home fortress. The next morning on visiting 
the scene of the night’s adventure he found a dead owl, whose screams 
had been silenced by his shot. Indians frequently came in bands of 
hunting parties and would stay for a week cr two in camp hunting game. 
One band made camp at Albion on the river, another on the “East Hill,” 
and at one time a band of fifty red men on a hunt camped at the Center. 
They were friendly and not more unwelcome than the gypsy bands that 
appear to this day. 

The Strongsville settlers were comparatively free from sickness. The 
high, dry and rolling ground was free from the ailments that many of 
the settlers contended with. There was some fever and ague along the 
river. In the treatment of this disease there were some standing remedies. 
Petroleum V. Nasby, in his humorous articles about the “Confederate 
Cross Roads,” says the Negroes took quinine and whiskey for the ague 
and the Whites took the same remedy for the same disease, which they 


116 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


took omittin’ the quinine. Be that as it may, it is an historical fact that 
John S. Strong, the virile, built, in 1821, a distillery down on the river 
near his gristmill and operated it for a short time. In 1822 came the 
third death in the township. Dr. B. B. Olds, whom we have mentioned 
as the first physician and who married a daughter of Mr. Strong, died 
this year. We should note the arrival of Rev. Luke Bowen, the first 
resident minister and school teacher. Of note this year also was the 
sale by Mr. Strong of his Albion property. He immediately built an¬ 
other gristmill on Rocky River, two miles east of the Center. As some 
one expressed it, there was not business for two mills, but Mr. Strong 
was of such a temperament that he could not keep still. This stir, quite 
considerable for the little pioneer settlement, caused a boom in prices 
and land went up from $3 an acre to $5, and this at an unfortunate time. 
Congress had just changed the plan of selling government land in large 
tracts to large buyers and began offering it in quarter sections at $1.25 
per acre. The emigration to Strongsville fell off and finally the boom fell 
off and land was reduced to two dollars an acre in order to get buyers. 
Thus in 1824 there were only twenty-four votes cast for president in the 
township. Of these Henry Clay received twenty-three and John Quincy 
Adams one. 

At this time the clearings had increased in size and crops were cor¬ 
respondingly large, but grain was so low in price as to hardly pay for 
marketing. Money was extremely scarce. Again we see the active mind 
of John S. Strong at work. One commodity which the settlers could 
produce was much in demand in Cleveland and had a ready sale, potash 
and pearlash. Mr. Strong built an ashery at the Center and operated it 
for many years. The ashes of the monarchs of the forest brought relief 
to the people. The product in so condensed a form overcame the handi¬ 
cap of transportation. When hauling to Cleveland it was customary 
for two men with two four-ox teams to drive in company with sled or 
wagon, so that they could assist each other on the way. A trip was a 
campaign. They usually carried an axe, refreshments, which included 
a jug of whiskey, and sleeping robes or blankets. The round trip occupied 
four extremely long days. Two barrels of potash holding from 400 to 
500 pounds each was a load for two yokes of oxen. It brought, in Cleve¬ 
land, from $4 to $5 a hundred. The only money the settlers got for 
some time was from this product. They would boil down the lye from 
ashes into what were called black salts and this product was sold to 
Strong for the manufacture of potash. 

Some scattering families came to the township before 1825 which 
have not been mentioned, Ezra Tuttle and son Benjamin, Ebenezer Stone, 
who bought a mile west of the Center, and Ebenezer Pomeroy, who was 
the first settler west of the Center. Walter F. Stone, a son of Ebenezer, 
was Common Pleas judge in the ’60s and 70s. In 1825 a frame town 
house, or townhouse, schoolhouse and meetinghouse, replaced the log 
building that was first so used. Dr. William "Baldwin came this year 
and filled the place vacated by the death of Doctor Olds. He practiced 
in the town for about twelve years. In 1826 there were only eighty-nine 
householders in the township. 

Torches made of hickory bark were used by those who were out in 
the evening. Young people were often compelled to walk a long distance 
through the woods after an evening at the spelling school, the singing 
school or the geography school, and the torch had a double mission, that of 
furnishing light on the way and of frightening away wild beasts of the 
woods. They were constructed so as to burn for a long time. A torch 
three feet long would burn during a walk of three miles. They were 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


117 


good for a mile for each foot in length. At one of these evening meet¬ 
ings a long line of torches would be leaning against the walls of the 
schoolhouse and at the close the gallant would pick his best girl, light 
his torch and see her home, the flame perhaps suggestive of that inner 
flame that told of love’s sweet dream. 

By 1830 wild game was getting scarce and early settlers soon were 
relating to their children the story of the last bear hunt. A female bear 
with two cubs was discovered and followed by some twenty men. The 
old bear while turning to defend her cubs was shot, one cub took to a 
tree and the other escaped in the darkness. The men waited all night 
by the tree containing the cub and at daybreak it was shot. The other 
cub was never seen again and no further bear stories could be told.. Now 
log houses began to disappear and frame houses took their places. In 
1833 Ebenezer Prindle was keeping tavern, and there were two stores 
at the Center, one kept by Emery and Warner Strong and a brick store 
with John S. Strong as proprietor. New arrivals were many, times were 
flush, paper money was abundant and Strongsville Center was thriving. 

In 1834 a rival to John S. Strong, in enterprise, came to the settle¬ 
ment from Albion, New York, Benjamin Northrop. He located at the 
lower mill on the east branch of the Rocky River and built a carding and 
fulling mill. He seemed at once to have the respect and good will of the 
people. For his building the settlers sold him timber on credit. Later he 
built a woolen factory in connection with his carding factory and again the 
settlers assisted in the same way, taking their pay later in cloth and work. 
This settlement was named Albion in honor of Mr. Northrop’s native town. 
A large number of houses were built. There were several stores and 
shops and the new settlement went ahead of the Center. A Baptist 
Church, an Episcopal and a Methodist were located here. Albion was 
incorporated as a borough. In the financial crisis of 1837 the growth 
of Albion continued unchecked. It issued script signed by Benjamin 
Northrop as mayor, which passed current, and tided over the difficulty. In 
1843 it had six stores, four blacksmith shops and several other shops and 
about forty dwellings. The dwellings were on the main road on top of 
the hill overlooking the mills, factories and the distillery on the river 
below. To paraphrase from Goldsmith we might say: 

Sweet Albion! loveliest village of the plain, 

Where health and plenty cheered the laboring swain, 

Where smiling Spring her earliest visit paid, 

And parting Summer’s lingering blooms delayed. 

Sweet, smiling village, loveliest of the lawn, 

Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn. 

In this year of 1843 the first calamity came. A fire destroyed a large 
part of the village. Starting in the mills on the river the wind drove 
it up the hill and many houses were burned. Fourteen families were 
made homeless and others had great loss. The decline of the village 
did not begin at once from this loss. Some houses were rebuilt and some 
lines of business reestablished. Travel on the turnpike was brisk and 
made business for the tavern and stores. Trask and Tuttle built a tan¬ 
nery on the river and did a thriving business for some years. Four and 
six-horse teams drove through to Cleveland with big wagons carrying 
produce for the market. Albion seemed to be regaining its past prestige, 
when in 1851 the railroad was built through Middleburg. Then travel 
left the turnpike and “the glory of Albion faded away.” The Center, its 
rival, continued on the even tenor of its way. While Albion was at its 


118 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


best, the voting place was at the Center and it remained the capital. In 
1849 Benjamin Northrop, the founder of Albion, sold his woolen factory 
to Dr. St. Clair and moved to Cleveland, having been the previous year 
elected by the Legislature, associate judge of the Common Pleas Court. 

Among those who served in the first half century and more of the 
organized existence of the township, and the list represents capable men, 
are trustees, David Goodwin, John Densmore, James Nichols, John S. 
Strong, William Fuller, A. j. Pope, Liakim Lyon, Henry Wait, Thad 
Lathrop, Luke Bowen, E. Wilkinson, James Smith, E. Bosworth, Joseph 
Olds, Leonard Peabody, Asa Drake, Ebenezer Stone, Boswell Trask, 
Charles Tupper, Caleb Carpenter, E. H. Reed, D. S. Lyon, James Preston 
and William Richards; clerks, Seth Goodwin, Benjamin B. Olds, Warner 
Strong, Ansel J. Pope, Emery Strong, M. E. Stone, Montravill Stone, 
Ebenezer Prindle, Timothy Clark, David Harvey, Banford Gilbert and 
Milo S. Haynes; treasurers, Ebenezer Stone, Lyman Strong, Curtis Stone, 
M. E. Stone, Warner Strong, Jubal Whitney, M. E. Gallup, E. H. Reed; 



Central School Building at Strongsville 
Replacing the “little red” schoolhouse of the township. 

justices of the peace, James Nichols, Ahijah Haynes, Henry Wait, Tim¬ 
othy Clark, John S. Strong, Harmon Stone, James Fuller, Norton Briggs, 
Warner Strong, John Miller, M. E. Stone, Lester Miles, D. K. Drake, 
David E. Heir, F. J. Bartlett, Henry W. Merrick and Alanson Pomeroy; 
assessors, Chipman Porter, James Wait, Lyman Strong, Chester Tuttle, 
Zara D. Howe, A. P. Howe, Ebenezer Merrill, A. H. Hoyt, Roswal Trask, 
C. T. Rogers, John Watson, Edward Haynes, M. S. Haynes and B. B. 
Heazlit. The present officers of the township are trustees, A. L. Sander¬ 
son, L. E. Bedford and Carl Lyman; clerk, R. W. Frank; treasurer, J. A. 
Frank; assessor, J. F. Pierce; constable, George J. Seidel, and justice of 
the peace, Grant G. Atkinson. 

The district schools, like those over the county, are no more. The 
schoolhouses, once used for all kinds of assemblies, have been removed 
or diverted to other uses and three buildings now house the pupils of the 
township, a high school building and two grade school buildings nearby 
at the Center. There are 14 teachers employed and 375 pupils enrolled. 
The present superintendent is F. C. Gilmore and he is under the direction 









THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


119 


of the county superintendent of schools, A. G. Yawberg, who has held 
that position for nine years. The high school building is being enlarged 
for the better accommodation of the schools. The new addition to the 
high school building is up to date, with a fine auditorium and school rooms 
and equipment of the best. Not having a water system in that township, 
the building will be served by a pressure tank and motor engine. The 
auditorium besides having the usual comfort, cloak, and dressing rooms, 
is equipped with an operating room for moving pictures. 

Strongsville furnished seventy soldiers in the Civil war. Among them 
Carlos Stone, whom we have mentioned; E. T. Kennedy, now of Berea, 
of whom we will speak in the chapter on Middleburg; George H. Foster, 
lawyer and legislator; George A. Hubbard, orator and clergyman, chap- 
plain of his regiment, and James E. Wyatt, philosopher, who, when the 
Old Seventh Ohio was surprised at breakfast, filled the pockets of his 
blouse with roast pork, notwithstanding the excitement, and, when the 
battle of Cross Lanes was over, deliberately pulled out his prize to the 
astonishment of his hungry copatriots; Samuel A. Carpenter, who lost 
an arm in a rather unexpected campaign with Sherman, from Atanta to 
the sea, and Frank Cunningham, father of Wilbur Cunningham of Cleve¬ 
land. No Grand Army post has ever been formed in the township, the 
men eligible preferring to join the Berea and other posts in the county. 
Samuel A. Carpenter is the only soldier of the Civil war now living in 
the township. He was a member of Company A of Col. Oliver Payne’s 
regiment, the One Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio. In command of 
his company was Captain William Wilson. Although nearly eighty, 
Mr. Carpenter and his good wife are active in seeing that the graves 
of the soldiers are remembered with flowers on Decoration Day each 
year. In 1822 there was a reunion of the surviving members of the One 
Hundred and Twenty-fourth Ohio, Mr. Carpenter’s regiment, at Strongs¬ 
ville. There were fifteen present and some letters were read from 
absent ones. 

This chapter is written of a quiet agricultural community, a section 
of the county in an extreme corner, away from the busy whirl. It has 
had no canal and no railroad and few exciting local events. The settlers 
transplanted here the sterling virtues of the Puritans, without their austere 
severity. They set up the school, the church, and civil authority early. 
They did not forget the precept of their Puritan mothers nor the God 
of their Puritan fathers in the woods of the western wilds. Graduated 
from this township have been three Common Pleas judges, Benjamin 
Northrop, who served in the ’40s; Walter F. .Stone, who served as Com¬ 
mon Please judge before and after the Civil war, and Carlos M. Stone, 
judge of the same court in later years. Of its lawyers, aside from these, 
may be mentioned L. L. Bowen, Sidney Strong, Myron Sabin, Erastus F. 
Miles and George H. Foster. Of its literary characters, Henry E. 
Foster, editor and miscellaneous writer, is a notable example. Of its 
legislators are Edson B. Olds and George H. Foster. It has produced a 
scientist of unusual attainments in Dayton Clarence Miller. 

Thus, in closing, we are reminded of the lines that were so often 
declaimed in the “Little Red Schoolhouse”: 

“What constitutes a state? 

Not high-raised battlements or labored mound, 

Thick wall or moated gate; 

Not cities proud with spires and turrets crowned, 

Not bays and broad armed ports, 

Where, laughing at the storm, rich navies ride; 


120 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Not starred and spangled courts, 

Where low-browed baseness wafts perfume to pride— 
No—men, high-minded men 

With powers as far above dull brutes endued, 

In forest, brake, or den, 

As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude.” 


CHAPTER XII 


MIDDLEBURG 

To many of the present residents of Cuyahoga County the name at 
the head of this chapter is not very familiar. The growth and develop¬ 
ment of Berea, a village formed from the territory of Middleburg, its 
influence as a college town, its quarries of sandstone seemingly inexhaust¬ 
ible, have given the village a prominence, in later years, that has hidden 
the name and almost blotted out the existence of the original township. 
People speak of going to Berea, but few know the name of the original 
township from which it sprang. The township, however, shorn of its 
original territory by the formation of the Village of Berea and the Village 
of Brook Park, is a political unit of the county and functions as when 
first organized. In the disposition of the lands of Cuyahoga County by 
the Connecticut Land Company there was more or less speculation and 
uncertainty. The surveyors who ran the lines reported number 6 of range 
14, this township, as low, wet and swampy in places, and it was rated 
low in the division among their members. Thus (we do not know for 
what price) the township was purchased by Gideon Granger, postmaster 
general under President Thomas Jefferson, being disposed of to one man. 
Granger, no doubt, thought he had a doubtful purchase. If he had 
known that the drainage of later years could bring into being valuable 
farms of productive beauty and that underneath a large acreage of his 
purchase lay a billion and more dollars worth of sandstone of the highest 
commercial value he would have smiled the smile that goes with one who 
knows he has made a successful purchase. Settlement was slow depend¬ 
ing upon sales. The first move was an offer of fifty acres of land to 
any one who would live upon the place. It seems that Abram Hickox 
accepted the proposition but did not carry out his part of the programme. 
He gave his name to Lake Abram, but never lived in the township. 
Jared Hickox, a relative, came in 1809 and located on the Bagley road 
about half way between the present Berea and the old turnpike. He got 
the fifty acres that was offered as a prize to the first settler. Jared Hickox 
was the grandfather of Mrs. Rosanna Fowls, prominent in the early his¬ 
tory of Middleburg. Jared Hickox holds the distinctive title, in the 
annals, of first settler, but he lived but a year after coming to the town¬ 
ship, dying suddenly of heart disease on a trip to Cleveland, leaving a 
widow, Rachel Ann, mother of Mrs. Fowls, and four sons, Nathaniel, 
Jared, Eri and Azel Hickox. 

The next settlers were the Vaughns, who came in 1810 and located 
on the banks of the Rocky River near the present site of Berea. The 
family consisted of Jonathan Vaughn and wife and two sons, Ephraim 
and Richard. There were no further accessions to the little colony until 
the next year, 1811, when Abram Fowls, unmarried, arrived, and also 
John Fowls, a younger brother of Abram. It is said that they selected 
a farm near the Hickox home, but it is also written in the annals that 
“near,” in those days, might mean within a mile or two. They came on 
foot through the woods to their new possessions. This habit of walking 
so grew upon Abram that he wore a path through the woods to the Hickox 

121 


122 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


home and, following this trail to its logical conclusion, married Rachel 
Ann Hitchcock. This, the first wedding in the township, took place in 
1812. Long engagements were not the vogue in those days. Abram had 
only $2.50 in his pocket, and to his name, in money, but Rachel was willing 
to take him “for better or for worse.” Modern romances, to be “best 
sellers,” must turn out well, and this one complied with all that is requisite 
in the love romance of today. They lived happily, raised a family of 
ten children, and at the time of the death of Mr. Fowls in 1850, the $2.50 
had enlarged to a very considerable fortune. He owned 500 acres of 
choice land and had large monied interests in various enterprises. The 
Vaughns were enterprising. Even with this small company in the town¬ 
ship, Jonathan Vaughn put up a sawmill on Rocky River near the present 
New York Central Depot and Ephraim Vaughn built a log gristmill 
farther up the stream. They depended in a large measure on out of town 
trade. We have related how Ephraim would meet his Strongsville cus¬ 
tomers part way and receive grists for his mill. Add to those settlers 



Uncle Abraham Hickox 

already mentioned Silas Becket and his son Elias Becket and we have 
enumerated the list of settlers prior to the War of 1812. The Beckets 
located near the Vaughns. 

The progress of the War of 1812 was disquieting. The headquarters 
of General Harrison was at the west end of Lake Erie. He had no 
trouble in getting enlistments, as volunteers came in such numbers that it 
became necessary to refuse many. General Harrison was governor of 
Indiana Territory, and General Hull of Michigan Territory, and their 
troubles with the Indians began before war was actually declared. Thus 
each had a considerable force at his command. When Hull was menaced 
at Detroit he ordered Captain Heald, who with a company of fifty regular 
troops occupied Fort Dearborn (Chicago), to abandon that post in the 
deep wilderness and hasten to Detroit. He left the post in charge of 
friendly Indians and, taking with him a number of militia, started along 
the shore of the lake for Detroit. He had marched only a short distance 
along the beach when he was attacked by a body of Indians, and twenty-six 
of the regular troops and all of the militia were slaughtered. A number 
of women and children were murdered and scalped. Captain Heald and 
his wife, both severely wounded, escaped. Mrs. Heald was wounded six 
times, but escaped. This event occurred August 14, 1812. The next day, 
August 15th, General Brock appeared at Detroit with 700 British troops 
and 600 Indians, and demanded the instant surrender, threatening at 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


123 


the same time to give free rein to Indian cruelty, in the event of refusal. 
General Hull, a Revolutionary soldier, surrendered without firing a shot. 
Historians in defending Hull refer to the number and character of the 
enemy. The character of the enemy is what disturbed the settlers, and 
they took such precautions as seemed within their power. Soon after 
Hull’s surrender a block house was built at Columbia, Lorain County, then 
a part of Cuyahoga, where there was a larger settlement. To this refuge 
the settlers of Middleburg repaired whenever the danger call was sent out. 
In case of the report of special danger, Captain Hoadley, in command, sent 
out the call for men to defend the fortress, which was also a refuge for 
the women and children. This was an exciting time in American history 
and particularly distressing to the scattered settlers on the border. Mr. 
Fowls took his family, with the rest of the colony, to the block house for 
a week at one time. When a second call was sent out he left them at home 
in charge of a younger brother. All other inhabitants of Middleburg 
went to the block house at Columbia, this family remaining alone in the 
desolate woods. It may be explained that during these exciting times a 
child was born to Abram and Rachel Ann Fowls, Lucy, the oldest daugh¬ 
ter. This was the first white child born in the township, and as a bit of 
genealogy we might add that Lucy married Nathan Gardner. 

After Perry’s victory and the vigorous campaign of Gen. William 
Henry Harrison, old Tippecanoe, immediately following his receipt of the 
message from Perry: “We have met the enemy and they are ours,” set¬ 
tlements increased, and in 1815, after peace was declared, the doors were 
wide open. Number 6 of range 14 is five miles square and watered by 
the east branch of Rocky River. Near the river the surface is broken, the 
balance level. When opened for settlement it was covered with a forest 
of beech, maple, oak and elm. About the swamp northeast of the 
Center were groves of hemlock and birch. Into this swamp wolves, pan¬ 
thers, bears, etc., retreated from the rifles of the woodmen. The first 
family to come after the war was that of Abram Meeker. They located 
at the outlet of Lake Abram. Mr. James Wood informs the writer that 
the deeds to land about the lake were descriptive of the farms as extend¬ 
ing to low water mark and that when, in later years and with values much 
appreciated, the lake was partially drained, there was controversy over 
the ownership of the new acreage. The family of Thaddeus Lathrop 
came in 1816. His daughter, who later became Mrs. Susan Tuttle of 
Albion, related that when the family came, she, then nine years of age, 
heard only of the Vaughns, the Fowls, the Meekers, the Hickoxs, and 
the Beckets, as residents of the township; that the only road to Cleveland 
was a path marked by blazed trees. In this year a number of the people 
of the township attended a Methodist camp meeting at Cleveland. They 
came home enthused and began holding meetings in Middleburg. They 
prayed, sang, and exhorted among themselves, without the presence of 
a minister, and made many converts. Then Jacob Ward, a preacher from 
Brunswick, came and organized a Methodist society. This was the first 
religious organization in the township. It continued in active existence 
for many years before it was supplied with a regular preacher. 

In 1817 and 1818 the families of Enoch G. Watrous and Silas Gard¬ 
ner settled on the river near the Strongsville line. Then Paul Gardner 
and Wheeler Wellman and Mr. Wellman’s father-in-law, Solomon Love- 
joy who kept the first tavern in the township. Mr. Lovejoy had two 
children Edwin and Amy Lovejoy. In 1820 the town meeting was held 
and a civil township organization effected. Few records are preserved of 
this original organization. The selection of the name, Middleburg, to 
supplant number 6, range 14, was chosen, but the origin of the name is 


124 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


not known and the manner of the selection. An old record shows that 
Ephraim Vaughn was the first justice of the peace, he that presided at the 
first election in Strongsville, but the other first officers are not of record, 
except that an early record shows a note of the commission of one Wil¬ 
liam Vaughn as a justice of the peace and his jurisdiction, including 
number 6 in range 15, now Olmsted Township. This notation is signed by 
Jared Hickox as township clerk and gives the date of the commission as 
February, 1819. Another old record, with date of June 22, 1820, says 
Solomon S. Doty qualified as constable on that date and gave the neces¬ 
sary bail. In March, 1821, the trustees of the township divided it into two 
road districts, and in April, 1823, into school districts. The record of 
this transaction is signed by Wheeler Wellman as clerk. In this year is 
recorded the first full list of township officers: Trustees, David Har¬ 
rington, Abram Fowls and Richard Vaughn; Wheeler Wellman, clerk; 
Silas Gardner, treasurer; Jared Hickox and Ephraim Fowls, overseers of 
the poor; Eli Wellman and Ephraim Fowls, constables; Jared Hickox, 
lister; Ephraim Vaughn, appraiser; Solomon Love joy and Wheeler Well¬ 
man, supervisors of highways; Abram Fowls, Owen Wellman and Silas 
Becket, fence viewers. As the officers must be residents of the township 
they must necessarily be confined to a few families, for few there were. 

From 1820 to 1827 there was little immigration. Prospective pur¬ 
chasers seemed to be repelled by the wet soil. One said in a discussion in 
regard to the purchase of land: “If Middleburg was not fastened to 
Strongsville, it would sink.” In 1827 there came to the township a 
remarkable and most interesting man, whose name is linked inseparably 
with its growth and development, John Baldwin. He and his young wife 
came by stage, making the last lap of the journey, four or five miles, on 
foot. He was a remarkable and unique character. John Baldwin was 
born in Branford, Connecticut, October 13, 1799 of Puritan parentage. 
His grandfather was a blacksmith and worked on an anvil in New Haven, 
Connecticut, making axes, hoes and other tools, with the father of Lyman 
Beecher. In the Revolutionary war his father enlisted as a private and 
won the rank of captain in the service. John Baldwin’s mother was the 
daughter of Edward Melay of New Haven. Young John had only a 
meager education as a child. The school he attended taught only reading 
and writing; arithmetic, geography, and English grammar were not in¬ 
cluded in the curriculum. At eighteen he joined the Methodist Church, 
and began from that time a study of books, and, like Lincoln, got his 
education from them. He did, however, attend an advance school for a 
time and then engaged in teaching. He taught in Fishkill, New York, 
then in Maryland, and later in Litchfield, Connecticut. He was a great 
believer in combining religious with ordinary instruction. Outside of 
Bible characters, John Wesley was his ideal. He was obsessed with the 
idea of aiding in the work of education along the lines suggested. Just 
how Providence aided him in his heart’s desires is a little drama in itself. 
He was married in 1828 and the next spring came, as we have said, to 
Middleburg, locating where Berea now stands. In brief—he built the 
first frame house, organized the first Sunday school, opened the first 
quarry, laid out the first building lots, and built the first seminary, which 
became Baldwin Institute, and later a university,—and turned the first 
grindstone. 

The stone quarries of Berea that became known the world over, and 
that gave the town the title of “The Grindstone City,” were a discovery. 
The settlers found in the bed of the Rocky River flat stones that pos¬ 
sessed a marvelous grit for sharpening tools. They would take them home, 
shape them as best they could, cut a square hole in the center and provide 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


125 


themselves with a home-made grindstone, an essential on the farm. It 
is said that Mr. Baldwin in digging a cellar for his home discovered the 
vein of rock underlying a large area of the township. Wise enough to 
appreciate its value he purchased the land adjoining his own and finally 
owned all the quarry land of the township. When Mr. Baldwin came to 
the township there were about 100 residents. The heads of families were, 
Silas Gardner, Enoch G. Watrous, Benjamin Colby, Silas Becket, Ephraim 
Vaughn, Richard Vaughn, Jonathan Vaughn, Eli Osborn, Zina Osborn, 
Charles Green, Aruna Phelps, Ephraim Meeker, a Mr. Tracy, Nathan 
Gardner, Benjamin Tuttle, Abram Fowls, David Fowls, Ephraim Fowls, 
Donald Fairchild, Paul Gardner, Amos Gardner, Valentine Gardner and 
Abijah Bagley. In 1827 the only roads worth mentioning were the road 
up and down the river and from Columbia northeast to Cleveland. Beyond 
these, the roads were just muddy paths. The turnpike was just started at 
this time. 

We have said that we have no records that give any light as to the 
selection of the name of the township, but this is known, that the Vaughns, 
Gardners and Beckets came from Middleburg, New York, and the selec¬ 
tion was no doubt made to honor their native town. Mr. Baldwin, in a 
manuscript on file in the. Western Reserve Historical Society library, 
refers to various small industries that began in the township about the 
time when he began to develop the grindstone business. Benjamin Colby 
used to burn lime and when Mr. Baldwin built his house, he exchanged 
apples for lime, bushel for bushel, with Mr. Colby. Aruna Phelps, down 
near the present site of the railroad depot, made chairs and turned bed 
posts. In speaking of Abram Fowls, he says, “he made money by attend¬ 
ing strictly to business/’ Abijah Bagley occupied the prize fifty-acre 
farm given to the first settler, and gave his name to the Bagley road. 
In the swamp on an island was an establishment for making a circulating 
medium called Podunk money. Here a band of outlaws, undisturbed by 
the officers of the law, and undismayed by the immediate presence of 
dangerous beasts of the forest, continued their operations for many years. 
They burned charcoal for their use and had tools and a shop to serve as 
their illegitimate mint. Apparently they did not counterfeit but issued a 
coin that resembled real money of the realm only in this that it was coined. 
From 1812 to 1815, times in Middleburg were at their worst and the set¬ 
tlers did not shy at anything that resembled money. People in debt, as 
the price of land declined, gave up their homes. Murrain killed the cat¬ 
tle, while fever and ague shook the owners. Many people died in trying 
to get acclimated. The raccoon, the deer, and the squirrel destroyed the 
crops. The roads were heavy and in some places almost impassable. From 
1828 to 1845, an even later period, the increase of population was slow 
because the land was held above the market price in other townships. 
During these seventeen years of depression some advancement was shown. 
A blast furnace was built on the river falls. This made a demand for 
charcoal and the settlers made and sold this product while clearing up 
their farms. David and Clark Goss, as Mr. Baldwin expresses it in his 
sketch, “built mills, cleared farms, and made good citizens.” Sheldon and 
Gilruth came and assisted in building the gristmill and in laying out a town 
and naming it Berea. They established a postoffice of that name. It seems 
Sheldon wanted it called Berea, and Gilruth clung to the name Tabor. 
They would neither yield, and finally agreed to decide it by the toss of a 
coin—heads, Berea; tails, Tabor. Sheldon won the toss, and it should 
be recorded that he was the first postmaster. 

In the depressed times mentioned, the Vaughns sold their farms, but 
continued to operate their mills. Ephraim later bought twenty acres cov- 


126 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


ering the central part of the present Village of Berea and this he sold to 
John Baldwin in 1836. An industry that was of great benefit to the set¬ 
tlers was one operated by David Fairchild on the river falls. He made 
wooden dishes. These were largely used and were found on the tables of 
the settlers away from the larger centers of population. They were used 
in the log cabin even when “company” stayed to supper. John Baldwin, 
aided by David and Clark Goss, founded a school called Berea Seminary, 
which continued awhile and then failed. Mr. Baldwin says that after the 
failure of the school both David.and Clark left thinking it better to go 
than stay. There were twelve families having stock in the enterprise, and 
they lost money. This was at the time of a great inflation of paper money 
in the country, and some attributed the failure to that cause. Whether 
Mr. Baldwin was interested in this enterprise may be doubted, but the 
vision of such an institution was in his mind and he worked toward its 
accomplishment. In the primitive hand method of cutting out grindstones 
the Berea stone was found to be superior to those brought from Nova 
Scotia, which were those most used. Mr. Baldwin began by cutting 
them out with chisel and hammer as early as 1828. These he peddled in 
adjoining townships. In the winter of 1832 he employed two stone cut¬ 
ters to work in his cellar on shares. He furnished board and stone in the 
rough, and each party had an equal share in the finished product. In the 
spring the workmen sold their share of the grindstones and their tools to 
Mr. Baldwin. He sold to a stone trader from Canada, hauled them to 
Cleveland and shipped to the purchaser in Canada. This was the first 
shipment of Berea stone and it was years before Berea had a name. The 
demand for grindstones increased and Mr. Baldwin began the study of 
cheaper and easier production. The chisel and hammer produced good 
grindstones but at much labor and expense. The log mill of the Vaughns 
was located at the east bank of the Rocky River, near the Berea Public 
Square or Triangle of today. Here was the power and Mr. Baldwin 
pondered over its application. He cut out a whitewood stick which he 
took to a little shop on the river and with the employment of a turning 
lathe shaped it for a pattern to be cast for a lathe to turn stone. On one 
moonlight night he shouldered his pattern and carried it on foot to Cleve¬ 
land to Mr. Hoyt’s, who was agent for a small furnace located where the 
Cuyahoga furnace afterwards stood. This mandrel was cast the next 
day and was brought to the river to the Vaughn log mill and placed in the 
end of the water wheel shaft. A hole was made in a flat stone, it was put 
on the mandrel and secured by an iron key. The wheel was set in motion 
and the rim turned off. Says Mr. Baldwin: “This was the first grind¬ 
stone I . ever saw turned and when it was taken down I looked at it with 
a great deal of interest.” This was in 1833. There was a limited demand 
for a few years and then the stones were introduced in New York and 
found superior to a French stone, then celebrated. The demand soon 
became great and many teams were employed to haul the product to Cleve¬ 
land for shipment. In addition to grindstones Mr. Baldwin soon manu¬ 
factured also shoe and scythe stones. The machinery for this manufacture 
was devised by him using the power in the larger mill built by R. and E. 
Vaughn. This industry was moved to what was called the Red Mill, 
operated by Clapp and Armstrong and later by Frank Stearns. Business 
success was attending on John Baldwin, the man with a vision. 

In 1845, with Holden Dwight as principal, Baldwin Institute was in 
operation, and families began coming to town for the education of their 
children. By this time a number of Germans had settled in the town and 
as they could Hot speak much English a German Methodist Church was 
formed, giving them the opportunity of hearing the conducting of services 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


127 


in their own language. But we should add more of the earlier years. In 

1832 the first Sunday school was established at the home of John Bald¬ 
win. Deacon Rouse of Cleveland was present at this first meeting and 
lent his experience to the occasion. He was an agent of an Eastern society 
that encouraged and aided Sunday schools by supplying books for their 
library and giving general assistance. In this year a temperance society 
was formed called The Total Abstinence Society. They were active in 
urging reservations in deeds of sale of land preventing the manufacture 
and sale of intoxicating liquors thereon. Many of the original deeds con¬ 
tain such reservations. Eli Osborn put up a fulling mill on the river. He 
used to dress cloth, survey land, act as justice of the peace, conduct 
religious meetings and sometimes preach. Perhaps the best illustration 
of the elimination of the middle man was shown in the business of Ben¬ 
jamin Tuttle. He had a shop on Rocky River in which he ground bark, 
tanned hides, and made shoes. The farmers would sell him the hides and 
get measured for a pair of boots or shoes, boots mostly in the case of the 
men. They bought and sold direct to the manufacturer. Thus was elim¬ 
inated the wholesaler’s profit, the retailer’s profit, the salesman’s salary 
and traveling expenses, cost of packing and shipping, and the added cost 
to take care of unsold stock, “marked down to $3.99.” Valentine Gard¬ 
ner bought out Tuttle and continued the business. Charles Green bought 
a small piece of land, but gave his time principally to pettifogging in the 
justice courts. He was the first legal practitioner in the township. In 

1833 the first tavern was opened on the turnpike in a house built by Sol¬ 
omon Love joy. This hostelry was conducted later by his son. Along the 
turnpike in the township at this time were the Pomeroy, Bassett, Smith, 
Peebles, Fuller and other families. Jonathan Patterson, who came in 1831, 
said the wolves howled nightly close to the homes of the settlers. In 1834, 
1835 and 1836 an era of speculation seemed to have struck the country 
and Middleburg caught the contagion. All sorts of speculative schemes 
were eagerly sought and embraced. In 1836 a social settlement was con¬ 
ceived in the minds of Rev. Henry O. Sheldon and James Gilruth. We 
have mentioned these gentlemen in connection with the first postoffice and 
the selection of the name, Berea. Mr. Sheldon was the first minister in 
the township. When he came the water power of the river was used, but 
there was no village, no store and no doctor. The plan of the settlement 
was applied socialism. The members were to hold property in common 
and do business in common. Its nucleus was to be the town. It is an 
odd coincidence that when the first purchaser of Middleburg, Hon. Gideon 
Granger, who was postmaster general under President Thomas Jefferson, 
died, the unsold land passed to Francis Granger, who was postmaster gen¬ 
eral under President William Henry Harrison some years later. To be 
exact, just forty. There were some other heirs. This community, 
organized by Sheldon and Gilruth, this application of the principles of 
socialism, this Utopia in the minds of its founders, started off in flying 
colors. Staid settlers held their breath as viewing a new era in human 
relationship, a remedy for the perplexities of the individual struggle for 
existence. Twenty families, mostly newcomers, formed the community. 
Only three resident families joined. The community bought of Granger 
over 1,000 acres of land. Some houses were bought and others built. 
Although the property was owned in common the residences were sep¬ 
arate. Business was conducted by a Board of Twelve Apostles. They 
bought and repaired a gristmill and sawmill on the river, put in crops, 
and the new era in modern civilization was launched. The “Community” 
was favorably regarded by the people of the township generally. They 
seemed to be different from social reformers. They were zealous in re- 


128 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


ligious duties and for the first time in Middleburg there was regular 
preaching each Sunday. But the experiment was very brief. Farming 
under the direction of the twelve apostles did not succeed. All kinds of 
difficulties arose and intense bitterness was engendered. In a few months 
the whole scheme broke down and, as expressed by one, “went up in 
smoke.” Most of the families who came to town as converts to the new 
civilization moved away, and the new era of Christian cooperation awaits 
the regeneration of mankind. Sheldon and Gilruth left one reminder of 
the “Community” that has not been disturbed, the postoffice. After the 
“Community” failed they remained and opened a high school which they 
called the Berea Lyceum and the village as originally laid out was called 
Lyceum Village. It retained that name as late as 1841. There was a 
Lyceum Village stock company which sold and gave deeds to lots in the 
village. As the postoffice was named Berea, a more convenient name 
than Lyceum Village, that gained ground and was finally adopted for the 
village. Alfred Holbrook was in charge of the Berea Lyceum school for 
a number of years, being secured by Mr. Sheldon, who was active in pro¬ 
moting the interests of the school. This school continued until about 
1845. A singular institution or industry to be conducted in this locality, 
away out in the woods far from large centers of population, was a globe 
factory operated by Josiah Holbrook. He made globes, cubes, and cab¬ 
inets for school use and at one time employed ten or twelve men. This 
factory continued in operation until 1851. 

By reason of the refuge of the swamp, wild animals remained later 
in Middleburg than in many other townships. In 1838 wolves would 
attack domestic animals but became more confined to the swamp region. 
In this year Mr. Doty shot the last bear. As late as 1842 three large tim¬ 
ber wolves came to the Middleburg swamp from the west and for a year 
and a half they would run out and kill sheep of the settlers and return to 
the swamp for cover. Lewis Fowls and Jerome Raymond undertook the 
strenuous task of dislodging the depredators and saving the stock. They 
had a double motive. The state and county together offered a bounty of 
$10 for each wolf scalp, and the farmers subscribed $10 more. The 
young men worked their way into the swamp and located the haunts of 
the big wolves. They baited steel traps with tempting morsels of mutton 
and beef and succeeded in catching all three of the wolves alive. These 
were the last wolves killed in the township. Deer were seen until after 
the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad was built through the 
township. The whistle of the locomotive seemed more potent than the 
rifle of the settlers in driving them away. Mr. L. A. Fowls, a fine shot 
and very successful hunter, killed five deer the year after the railroad 
was built, but these were the last. The railroad was built in 1849. Wild 
turkeys were numerous and of large size. Young Fowls killed eighteen 
in one winter and they weighed from fifteen to twenty pounds each. 
Wildcats were numerous and ugly. The last one was killed in 1845. 

The population did not keep pace with other townships notwithstand¬ 
ing the various enterprises started, from grindstones and scythe stones to 
“Community” and Lyceum. Mr. Baldwin said in 1845 there were but 
twelve families in Berea and half of them talked of moving away, and 
there were only a dozen houses in the village. A village store was kept 
by Mr. Case, the Holbrook school apparatus factory was running. There 
were two small woolen factories running, one operated by James North¬ 
rop and the other by John Baldwin. The Berea Lyceum had gone down. 
At this period in our history John Baldwin began the project that had 
haunted his waking hours and crept into his dreams since a boy of eighteen. 
He had wrested from the rocks under his land a modest fortune and 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


129 


other fortunes lay at his feet. He determined to establish an educational 
system in accordance with his lifelong desires, and Providence had aided 
him in the project. There was an institution at Norwalk under the 
auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church that conformed to his ideals 
but it was carrying on a feeble existence. Mr. Baldwin proposed to bring 
that to Berea. He offered fifty acres of land, including grindstone quar¬ 
ries and abundant water power, for the support of the institution. The 
offer was accepted and a brick building 36 by 72 feet was constructed on 
the southwest side of the river. In June of 1845 Mr. Baldwin made an 
additional gift of fifty quarter-acre lots for the benefit of the institution. 
A charter was obtained in December, 1845, and the school, named in the 
charter as The Baldwin Institute, was opened in April, 1846, with 
Rev. H. Dwight as principal. It began with 100 students, 61 males and 
39 females. The success of the institute brought settlements to the town 
and throughout the township the farms, as the drainage improved, became 
more productive. 

In 1848, more than forty years after the first settlement was made, 
Dr. Alexander McBride, the first physician, came as a permanent resident. 
He immediately began practice and continued until his death in 1876. 
From 1859 the growth of Berea was rapid. In this year Mr. Baldwin 
built a railroad from his quarry to the depot, a distance of about a mile. 
It was laid with the old fashioned flat rails and on this track he hauled 
grindstones to the railroad with ox teams, then pony engines were em¬ 
ployed. This continued in use for about ten years, when the railroad 
company built a switch to the quarry. 

Now stone began to be used more and more for building purposes. 
In 1846 David E. Stearns began using a saw for cutting stone into build¬ 
ing blocks. The advent of this finished product on the market increased 
the demand and soon the building stone industry rivalled the grindstone 
output. In 1855 Baldwin Institute became Baldwin University. Then 
German Wallace College was established. Thus the educational center 
kept pace with business development. The people were insistent that the 
atmosphere of the town should be in keeping with the schools so that the 
problem of a quarry and a college town combined should work out with¬ 
out detriment to the educational interests. The temperance question was 
always in the forefront. The quarry men were inclined to be “wet” and 
the school men “dry.” The precaution taken quite early of haying a 
reservation in the deeds in regard to the manufacture and sale of spiritous 
liquors prevented the establishment of many places for the sale of liquor. 
From the day when Mr. Baldwin fastened his shaft to the water wheel 
of the Vaughn mill and turned the first grindstone, the business steadily 
increased until in the 70s we had in active operation The Berea Stone 
Company, formed by the consolidation of Lyman Baker and Company, 
F. M. Stearns, W. R. Wood and Company, George W. Whitney, and 
C. W. Stearns. This company was capitalized at $500,000, with Lyman 
Baker as president, F. M. Stearns as vice president, and a board of direct¬ 
ors consisting of Robert Wallace, George Nokes and C. W. Stearns, 
owning forty acres of quarries, employing 100 men, and besides manu¬ 
facturing building and scythe stones, shipping 3,000 tons of grindstones 
yearly to all parts of the world; there was The Baldwin Quarry Com¬ 
pany, capitalized at $160,000, owning ten acres of quarries, and employ¬ 
ing from forty to sixty men, John Baldwin, Jr., as president, J. Le Duke, 
secretary and treasurer, and these two with James Dunn and J. B. Krame 
forming the board of directors; Russell and Forche, who succeeded to 
the Diamond Quarries Company, owning four acres of quarries and em¬ 
ploying fifteen men; The Empire Stone Company, owning three acres 


130 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


of quarries and employing ten men, and last but not least, The J. McDer¬ 
mott Company, capitalized at $250,000, owning thirty or forty acres of 
quarries and employing 150 men, with William McDermott as president, 
E. C. Pope, secretary and treasurer, and M. McDermott, superintendent, 
shipping daily 400 tons of building stone and grindstones. 

The agricultural interests of the township were keeping pace in some 
degree with the educational and industrial advancement. In 1876 the 
outlet of Lake Abram was enlarged and a large area of new land brought 
into cultivation. The soil is a black muck, extremely fertile, and the 
finest onion land in the world. Immense quantities were raised of that 
marketable product and the soil proved to be almost inexhaustible. It 
represents the accumulated mold of untold centuries. Eight hundred 
bushels per acre have been raised on this land and to facilitate shipping a 
railroad switch was extended into these onion fields and the onions loaded 
directly on the cars. From the days when John Baldwin carried the pat¬ 
tern of a mandrel on his shoulders to Cleveland to the time when blocks of 
stone weighing 1,000 tons have been moved in the quarries by modern 
appliances and sliced up by gang saws, great changes have taken place. 
All this has not been accomplished without some drawbacks. In the turn¬ 
ing of grindstones a fine grit arose that breathed into the lungs of many 
workmen caused death in a few years. Grindstone or grit consumption 
was a terrible scourge. This became more prevalent and distressing as 
steam power was applied and the wheels turned with lightning speed. It 
remained for John Baldwin, Jr., whose memory should be ever fragrant, 
to eliminate this danger and save the lives of workmen. He invented a 
patent blower by which the dust is carried away, and the disease has dis¬ 
appeared. Is it any wonder that the name of Baldwin is a sacred name 
in the annals of Middleburg and her child Berea? 

Among those who have served in the early years of the civil adminis¬ 
tration of the township have been: Trustees, Amos Briggs, David Har¬ 
rington, Abram Fowls, Richard Vaughn, Thaddeus Ball, Buel Peck, Silas 
Becket, Elias C. Frost, J. Vaughn, Valentine Gardner, Benjamin Colby, 
Patrick Humiston, Charles Green, Clark Goss, Libbeus Pomeroy, John 
Baldwin, Enoch C. Watrous, Moses Cousins, Sheldon- J. Fuller, David 
Gardner, Lewis A. Fowls, J. Sheldon, A. Love joy, James Wallace, G. R. 
Whitney, C. C. Bennett, S. W. Smith, W. Sutton, James S. Smedley, 
William Newton, Conrad Stumpf, William Pritchard, T. J. Quayle, S. B. 
Gardner, Henry Bevares, Amos Fay, S. W. Perry, William Engles, John 
McCroden, William Lum, William Humiston, J. C. Nokes and John W. 
Landphair; clerks, Jared Hickox, Benjamin Tuttle, Eli Osborn, John 
Baldwin, Merritt Osborn, F. Humiston, Russell Gardner, Philemon Bar¬ 
ber, J. Melt Lewis, S. H. Wolsey, M. Hepburn, Harmon P. Hepburn, 
John Watson, George S. Clapp, William B. Rogers, A. S. Allen, J. P. 
Mills, E. C. Martin, S. S. Canniff, J. C. Nokes, C. W. Meley and Abner 
Hunt; treasurers, Abram Fowls, Silas Gardner, Isaac Frost, Amos Gard¬ 
ner, Philo Fowls, Isaac Meacham, L. Pomeroy, G. R. Whitney, David 
Goss, J. Fuller, Jonathan Pickard, Silas Clapp, Robert Wallace, John S. 
Miller, J. S. Smedley, T. J. Quayle, W. W. Noble, E. J. Kennedy, T. C. 
Mattison, Joseph Nichols and E. Christian; justices of the peace, Ephraim 
Vaughn, Benjamin Colby, Jere Fuller, Henry R. Ferris, P. Barber and 
Jared Hickox. 

The present officers of the township are: Trustees, C. F. Eckert, 
C. F. Sprague and W. R. Schrivens; clerk, J. M. Patton, who has also 
served as justice of the peace, and is now solicitor of the Village of Berea; 
treasurer, George C. Goette; assessor, George F. Gray; constables, E. W. 
Carman and Charles F. Poots. The original territory of Middleburg 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


131 


has been broken into by two villages, Berea, named from the postoffice 
and unofficial designation, and Brook Park Village in the north Berea 
was organized as a village March 23, 1850. Naturally the first mayor was 
John Baldwin. Others who served in the early days are G. M. Barber, 
J. V. Baker, W. N. Watson, Joseph Jones, Silas Clapp, Jacob Rothweiler, 
James Smedley, John Baldwin, Jr., Alex McBride, S. S. Brown, Lyman 
Baker, D. R. Watson, George Nokes and Joseph Nichols. A town hall 
was erected in 1874. The present officers of the village are: Mayor, 
Carl J. Eckert; clerk, C. E. Fox; treasurer, J. B. Pomeroy ; assessor, 
George Gray; councilmen, E. C. Haag, C. M. Jordan, P. G. Mohler, D. 
Gilchrist, Harry Wismer and John Baesel. The former clerk was J. M. 
Patton. Brook Park Village has been more recently organized. It has its 
own school district and an efficient municipal government. The present 
officers are: Mayor, W. J. Sifleet; clerk, S. H. Pincombe; treasurer, 
G. J. Gage; assessor, Carl F. Rohde; councilmen, Louis Grosse, Y. C. 
Schmidt, Jacob Walter, J. T. Waddups, Ole Olsen and William Wensink. 
Many of these men who served in the township and village have served 
the county in a larger capacity, and others not included in the list. There 
is G. M. Barber, who served as common pleas judge; E. J. Kennedy, 
who served as state representative, county recorder and county commis¬ 
sioner; John Asling and T. C. Mattison, who served as county commis¬ 
sioners; George Nokes, Robert Wallace and C. F. Lane, who served as 
state representatives, and M. A. Sprague, who served for a long time as 
county school examiner. 

Middleburg was provided with the district schools scattered over the 
township to better accommodate the sparsely settled territory, but the 
educational development kept pace with the business advance. Shortly 
after the village of Berea was incorporated a union school was established 
there. This was the first graded school to be established outside of the 
city. Thus Berea can boast of having the first college in Cuyahoga 
County, and the only one for many years, and one of the first graded 
schools. It was governed by the township board of education and, like 
a sub-district, by a board of directors. James S. Smedley was the first 
teacher. After him came Goddard, Milton Baldwin, Israel Snyder, Bas¬ 
sett, Eastman, Goodrich, Kendall, Huckins, Pope, and Hoadley. These 
were teachers in the old frame building. The first school building was 
replaced by a brick building and the first principal in this building was 
B. B. Hall. He was succeeded by Mr. Millets, and he by M. A. Sprague, 
who was in charge for a long period, and brought the school up to a high 
grade of efficiency and more perfect classification. Efficient officers after 
the new building was in operation were: President of the board, 
E. Christian; clerk, C. W. Sanborn; treasurer, A. H. Pomeroy; directors, 
T. C. Mattison, M. McDermott and E. G. Worcester. In the new build¬ 
ing in 1895 was held the County Teachers’ Institute, an annual meeting 
provided by law, and due to the fact that it was held in a college town 
and to the active interest of Mr. Sprague and his corps of assistants, it 
was a great success. The public schools of Middleburg are now a part of 
the general system operated under the direction of the County Board of 
Education and the county superintendent, Mr. Yawberg. S. S. Dickey 
is township superintendent of schools. Besides the large and well 
equipped high school building at Berea, there are grade buildings includ¬ 
ing a school building for orphans, which is under the same general super¬ 
vision. There are thirty-one teachers employed and an enrollment of 
888 pupils. Brook Park Village has its separate school district. In its 
schools are engaged seven teachers and there are 182 pupils enrolled. 
Mr. Frank Blair is superintendent. 


Vol. 1-5 


132 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Berea College has ever been under the auspices of the Northern Ohio 
Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church. John Baldwin has been 
one of the large contributors. The buildings of Baldwin Institute were 
transferred to the college and each year Mr. Baldwin paid in the inter¬ 
est on $10,000. The first faculty consisted of Rev. John Wheeler, presi¬ 
dent, and professor of mental and moral science; Rev. Jeremiah Tingley, 
vice president and professor of natural sciences; Rev. William Barnes, 
professor of Latin and Greek; Gaylord H. Hartupee, professor of mathe¬ 
matics; Misses Rosanna Baldwin and Emily A. Covel completed the 
teaching force, to which, however, must be added the teacher of music, 
Eugenia A. Morrison, and of French, Sarah A. Storer. In 1858 a Ger¬ 
man department was added, under the tutelage of O. Henning, Ph. D. 
He was followed by Jacob Rothweiler, who was very successful in increas¬ 
ing the number of students, and building up the interest generally in this 
branch of study. In 1863 German Wallace College was established as a 
separate institution, but the relationship of the two schools was very 
close. Students entering the German Wallace College were privileged to 
attend classes in the other school and vice versa. Berea College was 
stronger in Latin, mathematics, and natural sciences, and German Wal¬ 
lace College in Greek, French, and music. In 1868 a college of pharmacy 
was added, but it was abandoned three years later for want of support, 
there not being enough prospective druggists to support the school by 
their attendance. But the colleges were growing generally and new build¬ 
ings added. In 1868 Hulet Hall was built. This building was named in 
honor of Fletcher Hulet, who was a large contributor. Ladies’ Hall was 
built in 1879. Among the early presidents of the first named college were 
W. D. Godman, who followed President Wheeler; Aaron Schuyler, whose 
series of mathematical text books were introduced and largely used in 
multitudes of schools over the country for many years, and William C. 
Pierce, Doctor of Divinity. The history of this, the first college in the 
county, deserves more than a passing notice. It was in August, 1845, that 
John Baldwin appeared before the North Ohio Conference of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church in session at Marion, Ohio, and offered a fifty-acre 
campus, a large three-story building, thirty building lots, and fifty acres 
of additional land at Berea for the purpose of founding an institution of 
learning at that place. This gift was accepted and a board of commis¬ 
sioners appointed, who with Mr. Baldwin organized Baldwin Institute and 
obtained a charter for it in December of that year. In 1855 the institu¬ 
tion was reorganized and rechartered as Baldwin University. In 1856 a 
new department was organized to provide for the educational needs of 
the German Methodist Episcopal Church of Berea. The demand for the 
study of German increased to such an extent that it was deemed necessary 
to organize a separate institution under the control of its own board of 
directors. James Wallace donated the building and grounds for this 
departure, and in 1863 the new school was organized and chartered under 
the name of the German Wallace College. These two colleges continued 
as separate entities, but with the close relationship, already referred to, 
until August, 1913, when they were united under the name of Baldwin 
Wallace College. This action was endorsed by the Conference and Board 
of Education of the Methodist Church and by patrons of the two institu¬ 
tions. Various endowment funds have been given to the school, which 
have added to its interest and efficiency. Among these the name of Bald¬ 
win appears not infrequently. There" is the Milton T. Baldwin fund of 
$3,000 to be used as prizes in the school, and the Gould Baldwin fund 
of $20,000 for the support of the school in the payment of salaries to 
professors, both given by Mr. and Mrs. John Baldwin; a fund of 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


133 


$20,980 for establishing a chair of modern languages, given by the Asso¬ 
ciation of Former Students, and the Nast fund of $25,000 for a chair of 
theology, given by Mrs. Fanny Nast Gamble. Twenty-five thousand dol¬ 
lars was given by Colonel and Mrs. H. A. Marting to establish the Flenry 
and Isabella Marting chair of theology, and $20,000 by J. G. Kalmbach 
to establish the Mr. and Mrs. J. G. Kalmbach chair of theology. Another 
bequest by Fanny Nast Gamble of $25,000 was received to establish a 
president’s chair, and one of $13,000 given by Sarah V. and C. V. Wheeler 
to establish a John Wheeler fund. Rev. and Mrs. John Marting gave 
$30,000 to establish the Henry and Louise Duis chair in the college. The 
largest single donation for the support of the school was the Philura 
Gould Baldwin memorial fund of $40,000 given by Mr. and Mrs. John 
Baldwin, Jr. Seventeen other smaller endowments have been received 
since the college was founded, not enumerated here. 

There are twenty-five acres of campus. The buildings are in two 
groups and there is the north campus and the south campus. The chief 
structures are of Berea sandstone. There is the fine Memorial Building 
on the south campus for the administrative offices. This contains the 
conservatory and the Fanny Nast Gamble Auditorium with seats for 
2,000 people and one of the finest of pipe organs. The college chapel, 
the men’s dormitory, Dietsch Hall, a residence for women students, and 
the gymnasium are here. At the north campus is located Wheeler Hall, 
Carnegie Science Hall, the Philura Gould Baldwin Memorial Library 
Building, erected as a gift of Mr. and Mrs. John Baldwin, Jr., in mem¬ 
ory of their daughter, Philura Gould Baldwin, who was a graduate of 
the college and its first librarian. Here is also the Home Economics Cot¬ 
tage, the Smith Observatory, and Hulet Hall, a residence hall for women, 
erected out of the stone of old Hulet Hall of 1868, which was the main 
building on the old Baldwin Campus. In this growth into a large insti¬ 
tution the original ideas of the founder have not been lost sight of, 
although in its diversity of studies and variety of modern appliances great 
changes have taken place. In the last college bulletin this statement is 
made: “It is the desire of the college to produce such an atmosphere as 
will make the Christian life the standard for the normal student. In the 
regular exercises of the college religious life finds both expression and 
cultivation.” 

John Baldwin attended a school in his youth where only reading and 
writing were taught, a school not up to the standard of the district school 
of the pioneers. We are giving something of the college he founded, 
which may be more interesting by comparison. The department of 
physics occupies six rooms in Carnegie Hall. In the basement are the 
electrical laboratories, and a photometer room. On the first floor is the 
general laboratory, the office, and a large lecture room with lantern and 
apparatus for its use. The Chemical Laboratories Department is fur¬ 
nished with apparatus such as electrically heated and controlled drying 
ovens, steam baths and electric furnaces for both crucible and combustion 
work, important in the analysis of iron, steel, and alloys; an outfit for 
determining molecular weights and conductivities, and Beckman thermom¬ 
eters for freezing point and boiling point determination. There is a 
laboratory with apparatus for courses in sanitary chemistry, with an auto¬ 
clave, steam sterilizers, electric incubators and microscopes, also used for 
bacteriological work. There are the Biological Laboratories with appa¬ 
ratus for the study of botany, zoology and physiology, in which are 
twenty-five dissecting microscopes, which are equipped with mechanical 
stage and oil immersion objectives, sliding microtomes, camera lucida, 
eyepiece micrometers, stains, and all usually found in a biological labora- 


134 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


tory. The college has a Home Economics Laboratory, a Textile and 
Clothing Laboratory, and a cottage where household management is taught 
as in an equipped household. There is the Herman Hertzer Museum, 
begun by Professor Hertzer, its first curator, of whom mention is made in 
a former chapter. His collection of fossils is there, with additions made 
by Dr. D. T. Gould and Dr. William Clark, whom we have also mentioned. 
In this museum we find the United States series of rocks, containing 150 
specimens, and ethnological specimens from China, India, Egypt and 
Assyria, given by Revs. F. Ohlinger, C. F. Kupfer, G. Schaenzlin, 
F. Bankhardt and Prof. W. N. Stearns. In the biological department 
there is the Harry Hamilton collection, presented by Mrs. H. W. Inger- 
soll of Elyria, and the A. J. Brown collection, presented by the Brown 
family. 

All freshmen and sophomores are required to take work in physical 
training under competent instructors and intercollegiate sports are fos¬ 
tered. Athletics in the college are conducted by an Athletic Board, and 
the physical director selected has as his assistant the football coach. Fra¬ 
ternities are not permitted, but there are in the college seven literary socie¬ 
ties. There are, however, honorary fraternities, the Pi Kappa Delta and 
Theta Alpha Phi. The first has a membership based on excellence in 
debate and oratory and including also intercollegiate debate and oratory, 
and the second based on dramatic work. There is maintained a Slavonic 
Literary Society for candidates for the Slavonic ministry wherein the 
members are trained in the language and literature for their work. There 
is a Chinese Students’ Club, a branch of the Chinese Alliance of North 
America, a Home Economics Club, a Young Men’s Christian Association, 
a Young Women’s Christian Association, a Theological Society, for fel¬ 
lowship and practice preaching, and a Students’ Volunteer Band, to 
awaken interest in foreign missions. There is a Choral Union for the 
study of oratorios and cantatas of the great masters, a Science Seminar 
Club for the study of mathematics, science and philosophy, to keep pace 
with the advancement of the world in these lines, and an Alumni Associa¬ 
tion, that meets yearly at commencement time. 

Prizes are distributed annually, and this feature adds to the interest 
and incites to greater endeavor among the students of the college. The 
Milton T. Baldwin gift of John Baldwin, Jr., has been placed in a trust 
fund and from the proceeds each year $25 is given to the student having 
the highest rank in study, and $25 to the one presenting a theme highest 
in thought and composition. The Board of Home Missions of the Meth¬ 
odist Church also gives three prizes, first, second and third, $25, $15 and 
$10, for the best essay or oration on the church and Americanization. 
In common with other colleges, Baldwin Wallace also participates in the 
Cecil Rhodes scholarship, awarded on scholarship, character, athletics, 
and leadership in extra curriculum activities. The winner of this prize 
gets a scholarship to Oxford and $1,500 per year for three years. 

College publications are an interesting feature of the school. There is 
published The Exponent, an official student publication, devoted to the 
various phases of student life, published weekly; The Grindstone, a junior 
and senior class biennial, and the Alumnus, a quarterly, published by the 
Alumni Association. In this school hazing is strictly forbidden. There 
are courses in biology, business administration, chemistry, economics and 
sociology, education, which is preparatory for teaching, English language 
and literature, foreign languages, history and political science, home 
^economics, mathematics, philosophy, physics, a pre-medical course, agri¬ 
culture, engineering and surveying, astronomy, Bible, geology, Greek and 
Latin, journalism, missions, music, physical education, public speaking, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


135 


and Slavonic languages. The Nast Theological Seminary has a faculty 
of six, the Conservatory of Music a faculty of thirteen, and the Cleve¬ 
land Law School a faculty of fourteen. There are over 1,000 students 
enrolled. The faculty consists of Albert Boynton, president, and pro¬ 
fessor of history; Delo Corydon Grover, vice president, and professor 
of philosophy; Carl Riemenschneider, president emeritus; Archie M. 
Mattison, professor emeritus of Latin; Elisha S. Loomis, professor 
emeritus of mathematics; Victor Wilker, professor emeritus of French 
and Spanish; Charles W. Hertzer, professor of sociology; Edward L. 
Fulmer, professor of biology; Emory Carl Unnewehr, professor of 
physics; Carl Stiefel, professor of the Bible; Frederick Kramer, pro¬ 
fessor of philosophy; Vaclav J. Louzecky, professor of the Slavonic lan¬ 
guages; Oscar Dustheimer, professor of mathematics and astronomy; 
Arthur C. Boggess, professor of economics and missions; John M. 
Blocher, professor of chemistry; Harry Lu Ridenaur, professor of Eng¬ 
lish; Frederick Roehm, registrar and professor of education; Ethel Sapp 
Tudor, associate professor of home economics; William C. Pautz, asso¬ 
ciate professor of history, mechanical drawing and physical education; 
Dana Thurlow Burns, assistant professor of English and public speaking; 
Marne A. Condit, instructor in education; Helen Marie Bull, instructor 
in chemistry; Charles R. Baillie, instructor in modern languages; Sam Lee 
Greenwood, same; Marie Caldwell Burns, instructor in history and Eng¬ 
lish; Maurice Hill Kendall, instructor and supervisor of the Slavonic 
department; Walter J. Lemke, director of athletics, and 'Eva E. McLean, 
instructor in physical education. Judge Willis Vickery is dean of the 
Law School, which is a department of Baldwin Wallace College but located 
in Cleveland. 

John Baldwin, the pioneer, was plain even to eccentricity in dress. 
When wealth came he retained the same simplicity. His dress was always 
of the same simple character and he would be seen on the streets barefoot 
and unkempt. It was one of his favorite diversions to be taken for a 
derelict. He illustrated the lines of Burns: 

What tho’ on hamely fare we dine, 

Wear hodden-grey, and a’ that; 

Give fools their silks, and knaves their wine, 

A man’s a man, for a’ that. 

Many stories are related of Mr. Baldwin, the man of wealth and 
influence, in his simple disguise as just a man. At one time he was put 
off a train by a conductor, who mistook him for a tramp. He was com¬ 
pelled to walk a long distance, no doubt chuckling to himself over the 
incident. Imagine the surprise of the conductor when he learned that he 
had expelled from the train a high official of the road. We can assume, 
to make the picture complete, that there were on this train, as there have 
been on many trains, men in rich clothes, whose proper destination was a 
prison cell for crimes committed. Following the institution and assured 
success of this educational institution in Berea Mr. Baldwin became inter¬ 
ested in education in the South. Following the Civil war he invested there 
and attempted to build up a school after his democratic ideas, but race 
prejudice and generally apathy interfered. He wrote a letter to Doctor 
Newman of New Orleans Institute as follows: “I have bought for 
$20,000 the Darby plantation of 1,700 acres in Saint Mary’s Parish, 
Louisiana, which has since been increased to 4,000 acres. There is a fine 
site of thirty or forty acres on the bank of the river containing fifteen or 
twenty houses, which the brethren of the Mission Conference can occupy 


136 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


for religious education as soon as they choose, provided there is no sex or 
color discrimination. When a corporate body is organized by said Con¬ 
ference, I will deed the above named site and secure to said corporation 
enough capital to make $20,000.” The terms of this offer would have 
been acceptable in the North, but could not successfully be carried out 
there. This plantation is now Baldwin, Louisiana, and a grandson of 
John Baldwin is in charge. Both John Baldwin and John Baldwin, Jr., 
are dead. John Baldwin did build a suitable building for a school on the 
plantation, and it was operated for some years as an academy, but its 
pupils were white. This has now been turned over to the authorities and 
used for a public school. 

In 1880 the business center of Berea contained one hotel, one tinshop, 
two hardware stores, two wagon shops, two harness shops, three drug 
stores, three blacksmith shops, three jewelry stores, two barber shops, four 
shoe shops, four millinery shops, five dry goods stores, six saloons, and 
seven groceries. By the operation of the local option law, passed by the 
Legislature of Ohio in 1886, the saloons were closed. The growth of 
the village has been steady from year to year. In 1870 the Berea Street 
Railway Company was organized and a street railway built through the 
town to the depot, something over a mile in length, at a cost of $6,000. 
This was operated for some years and then the Cleveland & Southwestern 
Railway, a suburban line, was built through the town and served the vil¬ 
lage both for local and general travel and traffic. In renewing their fran¬ 
chise a difference arose between the road and the council of the village 
which was not adjusted, and the line was changed to pass east of the 
village. Some inconvenience resulted, but the advent of motor busses 
which pass through the village have in a measure relieved this. Among 
the large industrial plants in the village are the Dunham Foundry, the 
Ohio Nut and Bolt Company, the Liberty Metal Products Company, and 
the Fox Novelty Company. There are two banks in the village, the Com¬ 
mercial and Savings Bank of Berea, E. J. Kennedy, president, with assets 
of $970,310, and the Bank of Berea, Percy Neubrand, president, with 
assets of $1,713,933. Two loan companies complete the list of financial 
institutions, the Gibraltar Savings and Loan Company, a branch, and the 
Suburban Building and Loan Company. The first newspaper in Berea 
was published in 1868. It was called The Advertiser, and the publisher 
was the Berea Job Printing Company. This was enlarged in size under 
the name of the Grindstone City Advertiser. In November, 1869, a cylin¬ 
der press was installed, a great improvement over the old slow press in use. 
On July 1, 1870, C. Y. Wheeler bought the paper, publishing it until Feb¬ 
ruary, 1871, when it was transferred to P. B. Gardner and John M. Wil¬ 
cox. Mr. Gardner acted as business manager and Mr. Wilcox as editor. 
This was the first newspaper venture of Mr. Wilcox, who later in life 
became editor of the Cleveland Press, which position he held at the time 
of his death. Berea has never had other than a weekly paper. In Sep¬ 
tember of 1872 Mr. Wilcox dropped out and Mr. Gardner continued the 
publication as editor and proprietor. In 1874 he sold to W. B. Pierce, who 
three years later transferred his right to E. D. Peebles, who commenced 
the publication, with Henry E. Foster as editor, under the name of 
The Cuyahoga Republican and Advertiser. Two years later the name 
was changed to The Berea Advertiser, with Mr. Peebles as editor and 
proprietor. In 1898 a new paper was started by Warner and Pillars 
called the Enterprise. Mr. Warner soon dropped out, leaving A. J. 
Pillars in sole charge. He is the publisher today of the Enterprise and 
without any rival, for some years ago he took over the good will and 
assets of the Berea Advertiser. Mr. Pillars showed the writer the files of 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


137 


newspapers in his office with the remark that in those files was a pretty 
comprehensive history of Berea. To be historically exact we should state 
that for a short time the Enterprise was owned and published by G. L. 
Fowls, who afterwards transferred it back to Mr. Pillars. Mr. Fowls 
is now employed on the paper and active in its publication. 

Among the early physicians of Berea, other than Doctor McBride 
the first, were Dr. Henry Parker, Dr. A. P. Knowlton, Dr. A. S. Allen, 
Dr. F. M. Coates. To these may be added Dr. N. E. Wright, Dr. William 
Clark and Dr. Lafayette Kirkpatrick. Doctor Parker and Doctor Knowl¬ 
ton served in the Civil war of 1861. Dr. L. G. Knowlton of Berea, a 
practicing physician with an office in Cleveland, is a son of Dr. A. P. 
Knowlton, and the widow and son of Dr. F. M. Coates, Mrs. Anna 
Coates and Frank M. Coates have been continuous residents of the vil¬ 
lage. One of the very talented writers of Berea is Miss Hanna Foster, 
an active member of the Early Settlers Association of Cleveland and the 
Western Reserve. At the time of the celebration of the one-hundredth 
anniversary of the first settlement of Cleveland a large cash prize was 
offered by the city for the best poem appropriate to the occasion, which 
Miss Foster won over a large field of competitors, and the production was 
published in the centennial volume put out by the city. Mrs. W. A. 
Ingham lived in Middleburg before her marriage. Her book, “Women 
of Cleveland,” published in 1893, with introductory chapters by C. C. 
Baldwin and Sarah K. Bolton, is a work of great and compelling interest. 
She is now living in Los Angeles, California, at the advanced age of 
ninety-two years. 

It is often the problem of historians to decide just what facts to relate, 
but a history of the primary social and political subdivisions of the coun¬ 
ty particularly covering the period of the pioneer and the development 
of these settlements into orderly and healthy communities, must contain 
much of the religious development. In Middleburg, as we have stated, 
a Methodist Society was formed shortly after the War of 1812, supplied 
by circuit riders. There is no written record left of this start. Rev. 
Henry O. Sheldon was the first resident minister in the township, he 
coming in 1836, but he did not confine himself, as we have shown, to 
ordinary pastoral labors. The first record starts with 1846 and with Rev. 
William C. Pierce (in the church established by the “Community”) as 
its pastor. This was located north by the depot. Reverend Pierce cov¬ 
ered the Berea Circuit, which included Olmsted and Hoadley’s Mills. 
A stone church was built or rather started in 1856, which was dedicated 
in 1858. This was located on the east side of the river near the 
university. On account of the rules of the Methodist Church, requiring 
frequent changes, the pastors were many, but the list includes many who 
are identified with the history of the county in its educational and civic 
life. For the first fifty years there were Revs. W. C. Pierce, Thomas 
Thompson, J. M. Morrow, U. Nichols, Hiram Humphrey, A. Rumfield, 
Liberty Prentiss, C. B. Brandeberry, Charles Hartley, William B. Disbro, 
John Wheeler, George W. Breckenridge, T. J. Pope, D. T. Mattison, 
Hugh L. Parish, E. H. Bush, I. Mower, Aaron Schuyler, I. Graham, 
W. D. Godman, T. IC. Dissette, John S. Broadwell and J. W. Buxton. 
In 1879 the German Methodist Church, which was organized earlier, 
had 157 members. Its meetings are held in the college building and 
sermons preached by one of the professors of the college. The first 
Congregational Church was organized June 9, 1855. Its first members 
were Caleb and Myra Proctor, David and Elizabeth Wylin, John and 
Nancy Watson, and Mary J. Crane, seven members. Ten new members 
were enrolled in the fall. The first pastor was Rev. Stephen Cook, the 


138 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


first deacons James S. Smedley and Caleb Proctor and the first trustees 
James S. Smedley, James L. Crane, B. F. Cogswell, Isaac Kneeland and 
Caleb Proctor. A brick church was built and dedicated March 6, 1856, 
which was the first meeting house completed in the township. . This little 
organization suspended in 1862, during the stress of the Civil war, but 
was reorganized in 1868. A new church was built on the site of the old 
and opened for services in 1872. A revival conducted by Reverend 
Westervelt, the following year, added thirty-seven to the membership of 
the church. The early pastors were Revs. Stephen Cook, E. P. Clisbee, 
Z. P. Disbro, L. Smith, H. C. Johnson, G. F. Waters, C. N. Gored, J. S. 
Whitman and E. H. Votaw. 

St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church was formed in 1855. The first 
resident priest was Father Louis J. Filiera, who resided at Olmsted Falls 
until 1866. A frame church was built and then a stone structure on the 
same site. This is 100 by 48 feet and cost $20,000. It is built of dressed 
Berea stone. Father Filiera was succeeded by Father John Hannon 
and he by Father T. J. Carroll. The councilmen in the ’70s were Thomas 
Donovan, Joseph Buling and James Barrett. At this time there were 
120 families represented in the church. 

St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church was organized October 9, 1861, with 
P. Harley senior warden, T. McCroden junior warden, and the services 
were conducted by Rev. George B. Sturgis, who preached for two years, 
but the number of Episcopalians was so small that the church dissolved 
in 1866. In 1873, by a consolidation with the church at Albion and 
Columbia, it was reorganized. The first officers under the reorganiza¬ 
tion were Joseph Nichols, junior warden; William James, W. W. Good¬ 
win, E. F. Benedict, M. McDermott, C. W. Stearns, Thomas Church¬ 
ward and J. S. Ashley, vestrymen. After the reorganization a frame 
building was moved from the west to the east side of the river and 
fitted up as a church. The first rectors in the order of service were 
R. R. Nash, A. V. Gorrell and I. M. Hillyer. St. Paul’s German Lutheran 
Church of Berea was organized July 28, 1867, by Rev. G. H. Fuehr. 
Meetings were begun in the north part of the township a year before. The 
full title is “The Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Saint Paul.” The 
first pastor was succeeded by Rev. F. Schmelts. With only fourteen 
members it built a frame church. Connected with the church there has 
been conducted a school and a Sunday school, taught by the pastor. 

A Polish Catholic Church called “Saint Adelbert’s Church” was organ¬ 
ized in 1874, with Victor Zarecznyi as its pastor. A church building 80 by 
42 feet was constructed between Berea and the depot at a cost of 
$6,000. Here a school also has been conducted, taught by the Sisters 
of Humility. Thus, while the Methodist Church has been the leading 
religious factor, there is a diversity of religious expression. 

The fraternal orders did not come into existence until after the 
Civil war. Berea Lodge No. 382 of Free and Accepted Masons was 
organized February 20, 1867. The charter members were F. R. Van 
Tine, G. M. Barber, S. Y. Wadsworth, C. Vansise, G. B. Sturgess, D. S. 
Fracker, N. D. Meacham and W. P. Gardner. The first master was F. R. 
Van Tine, senior warden G. M. Barber, junior warden S. Y. Wadsworth. 
Following Van Tine as masters have been G. M. Barber, S. Y. Wads¬ 
worth, D. R. Watson, W. W. Goodwin, W. A. Reed, Joseph Nichols 
and C. W. L. Miller, covering the early years. Berea Chapter number 
134 of Royal Arch Masons was organized October 2, 1872. Its charter 
members were F. R. Van Tine, D. R. Watson, W. W. Noble, Edward 
Christian, W. L. Stearns, G. M. Barber, Robert W. Henry, Theodore M. 
Fowl, S. E. Meacham, H. D. Chapin, Aaron Schuyler, Samuel Hittell. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


139 


The first officers were F. R. Van Tine, high priest; R. W. Henry, king; 
and W. L. Stearns, scribe. 

Besides a post of the Grand Army of the Republic, which for years 
following the Civil war was a virile social and political factor in the 
town, with its related patriotic orders, there came Rocky River Lodge 
No. 236 Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Berea Encampment No. 
152 of Foresters, a lodge called the Sweet Home Division of the Sons 
of Temperance, Ancient Order of Hibernians, No. 2, Grindstone Lodge 
No. 324 of Woodmen, and a number of others. In these the brotherly 
helpfulness that began from log house to log house in the woods pierced 
by the early settlers, found expression. 


CHAPTER XIII 


DOVER 

We are writing of the extreme northwest part of Cuyahoga County, 
number 7, range 15, in the original survey, now twenty-five square miles. 
We say now, because when this number of range 15 was organized as a 
township, its jurisdiction extended west twenty-five miles even to the 
“Fire Lands.” Thus was the protecting hand of the local government 
extended into otherwise unorganized territory. At the first election for 
township officers, voters outside the present boundaries of the township 
participated. The boundaries are, west, Lorain County; north, Lake Erie; 
east, Rockport, and south, Olmsted. This is an agricultural, a fruit grow¬ 
ing section. It has good roads and the Lake Shore Electric Railroad 
from Cleveland to Detroit passes through the township. Fine residences 
dot the northern part along the lake and land that sold in pioneer days 
for $1.25 an acre now sells for double that per foot. The streams are 
small, affording feeble water power, but they were harnessed when the 
settlers came and ran the mills that were a great boon to the first comers. 
Hubbard and Stowe were the purchasers from the Connecticut Land 
Company and they figure in the history of Dover merely as such, never 
coming to their possessions in the West, but leaving the business in the 
hands of Datus Kelley, their agent. The first settler was Joseph Cahoon, 
who came from Vergennes, Vermont, with his wife and seven children, 
arriving October 10, 1810. Mr. Cahoon brought the family in a wagon 
drawn by four horses and brought a fifth horse, which was ridden by 
the girls in turn. In this way they relieved the tediousness of the long 
journey. They located at a creek which has ever since been called Cahoon 
Creek. Arriving, the first thing was the building of a log house, which 
was finished in four days, the women sleeping in the wagon box while 
the building was under construction. There was no delay. No strikes 
and no conflicts between the various trades employed in the construction, 
delayed its completion. The man who swung the ax and the mason who 
built the chimney worked in harmony, for the two trades were combined. 
The material men had no schedule of prices. The stones from the creek 
and the logs from the woods were free. The tea kettle brought from 
Connecticut by the Cahoons was preserved by Joel B. Cahoon and at the 
first celebration of the first settlement by the Cahoon Pioneer Association, 
which was held on the spot where the log house was built, October 10, 
1860, fifty years afterwards, tea for dinner was steeped in it and they 
served also pies made from apples picked from the first apple tree set out 
in the township. The Cahoon Pioneer Association held annual meetings 
for many years attended by members of the family and their friends. 
In 1878, 120 were present. These meetings were held on October 10th 
for some years and then changed to October 28th, the birthday of Joseph 
Cahoon. He built the first gristmill west of the Cuyahoga River and it 
was raised on September 10, 1813, the day of Perry’s victory on Lake 
Erie. On that day also, in the county, a barn was raised in Euclid Town¬ 
ship, a large party attending the raising, the workmen were just finishing 
the courthouse at Cleveland, and to make the day complete this gristmill 

140 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


141 


was raised on Cahoon Creek. Joseph Cahoon and his son, Joel B., quar¬ 
ried two millstones on the creek at North Dover for the mill. These 
are preserved as relics of the olden time and were in the possession of 
the family for many years. Joseph Cahoon built a sawmill nearby on the 
creek and when the raising of peaches had progressed beyond the needs of 
the home market, set up a distillery for the manufacture of peach brandy. 
In 1818 Joseph built a very pretentious frame house on the premises, 
which was later occupied by Joel Cahoon, his son. 



“My Thoughts Go Up the Long, Dim Path 
of Years" 

On the lake bluff at Bay Village, Dover Town¬ 
ship, the extreme northwest portion of Cuyahoga 
County. 


The Cahoons became first settlers only by a scratch for on the after¬ 
noon of the day they came, October 10, 1810, Ashahel Porter and family 
came and with them Leverett Johnson, a nephew, who lived with the 
family in Connecticut. Johnson was only seventeen when they came to 
Dover. Porter built a log house on lot 94, near the lake, which was later 
occupied by Charles Hassler. Lake Erie has been constantly encroaching 
on the land, and the site where stood the log house built by Porter has 
been washed into the lake. Quite early in the history of the pioneer 
experience of this family, the Porters, a tragedy is recorded. In 1814, 


142 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Mrs. Porter with an infant child and accompanied by Noah Crocker and 
George Smith, journeyed to Cleveland in an open boat. On the return 
trip they were overtaken by a storm and as they were attempting to turn 
in at Rocky River all were drowned but Crocker. Mr. Porter remained 
in Dover for a time after this tragedy. He kept a store on the shore of 
the lake and was postmaster in 1815. Later he moved to Rockport, but 
the family was represented in Dover by a daughter, Mrs. Catherine Foot, 
who lived past three score and ten there. Of the boy, Leverett Johnson, 
who came with the Porters, a record is preserved of his descendants. 
While living with the Porter family he began clearing land some distance 
away, on lot 58. We say living with the Porters but he only came home 
to spend the weekend, to use the modern phrase. During the week he 
lived alone in the wilderness, not disturbed, as was Daniel Boone, who, 
when a family settled within a mile or two of him, said it was getting too 
crowded and moved on. J ohnson admitted it was sometimes darned lone¬ 
some. The first season, his home was a bark roof set against an old log 
of great size. He was not disturbed by the Indians, who were friendly 
and sometimes helped him in his work, and he kept the wild beasts away 
by a fire at night. What kept him at his task, what made the burdens of 
this life endurable, this lonely strenuous battle in the wilderness? The 
love of woman. He was carving a home in the forest and battling for her 
as men have endured, not always in the same way, but for the love of 
woman. In 1814 he married Abigail Cahoon and took her to the new log 
house, which he built that year. Johnson became prominent in the new 
community. He was justice of the peace from 1827 to 1833 and served 
five terms in the Legislature of the State of Ohio. He died in 1856 in 
his sixty-second year. He was the first director of the Dover Academy, 
of which we will speak further on. As a legislator he had a varied 
experience. He began December 4, 1837, when Governor Joseph Vance 
was in office and Peter Hitchcock and Reuben Wood on the Supreme 
bench. At this session of the Legislature imprisonment for debt was 
abolished. The next session was held December 3, 1838. Wilson Shannon 
was governor. Mr. Johnson served again in 1840 when Thomas Corwin 
was governor and John Brough was auditor of state. The legislative rec¬ 
ords of this session recite the fact that in receiving the notice of his elec¬ 
tion, Governor Corwin made a felicitous speech. In the forty-seventh 
General Assembly, which convened December 4, 1848, Mr. Johnson was 
an influential member of the House. Seabury Ford was governor. In 
the Senate there was a turmoil over the canvass of the vote and there were 
stormy scenes in both houses. At this time the vote for state officers was 
canvassed by the two branches of the General Assembly. Two members 
of the Free Soil party were elected to the Legislature and the whigs and 
democrats were evenly divided on joint ballot and the election of a United 
States senator was coming up. The vote in the organization of the House 
and Senate was disturbed by a contention over the seating of two men 
from Hamilton County. The Senate after much discussion and many 
ballots were taken finally perfected an organization but the House organi¬ 
zation was more difficult. Upon a call forty-two members responded and 
thirty-two failed to respond, less than a constitutional quorum responding 
as present. These forty-two and thirty-two factions each attempted an 
organization, Benjamin F. Leiter presiding over the forty-two and A. T. 
Holcomb over the thirty-two. These two'rival Houses did not come 
together until January 3, 1849. The vote for speaker at that time on 
the first and second ballots stood Leverett Johnson, thirty-four, John 
G. Breslin, thirty-four, scattering two. On the third ballot Mr. Breslin 
was elected, receiving thirty-seven to Mr. Johnson’s thirty-three. The 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


143 


Dover man was not elected speaker but he had received a high compliment 
in a stormy period. Mr. Johnson again served in the fifty-second Assem¬ 
bly, when Salmon P. Chase was governor, who was elected by a small 
majority over Henry B. Payne of Cleveland. This session began in 1856. 
Mr. Johnson died while serving on this, his fifth term in the House. 

In 1811 Philo Taylor settled in the town. He built the first sawmill 
and opened the first tavern but stayed only a few years. Dr. John Taylor 
came from Rockport in 1813. He was the first physician, but had some 
peculiar theories. One of them was in regard to treatment for consump¬ 
tion or tuberculosis as it is now called. He contended that daily exercises 
of a character that would bring into play the muscles of the chest would 
bring a cure. His wife was afflicted with the disease and he kept her at 
daily exercise, swinging a flatiron in each hand, but the treatment was not 
a success and she died. Whether he clung to his theory after that is not 
recorded. He moved to Carlisle, Ohio, and later to Wisconsin, where he 
died. Joseph Stocking of Ashfield, Massachusetts, bought a farm in Dover 
and with his uncle, Jonathan Smith, came to his new possessions in 1811. 
He went back to Massachusetts and postponed his return until after the 
War of 1812. In 1815 he returned with quite a delegation, his wife and 
five children, Nehemiah Porter, John Smith, Asa Blood, Wells Porter, 
Jesse Lilly and Royal Holden, all relatives. He lived on the farm to. the 
good old age of ninety-five years. Jesse Lilly settled on North Ridge 
and then moved to the south part of the township. John Smith bought 
on lot 55 and Royal Holden about a mile west of the present Dover Center. 
Asa Blood built a log tavern and replaced it in after years by a brick hotel, 
which was located on the same site. In later years this hotel was kept by 
Philip Phillips. Dover in its pioneer period was more favored in the way 
of mail facilities than many other townships. In 1825 with Asa Blood as 
postmaster it had mail three times a week. A mail stage driven by a 
Mr. Wolverton from Cleveland to Elyria never missed the postoffice at 
Dover Center and it found Postmaster Blood on the job. Nehemiah Porter 
with his wife, two children and Wells Porter, a bachelor relative, settled 
on lot 45. Ebenezer Porter came in 1816. Of this family all remained in 
Dover except Wells Porter, who after settling for some years on a farm 
of his own, moved to Cleveland. Jedediah Crocker of Lee, Massachusetts, 
bought in Dover and in June, 1811, came west as far as Euclid. He 
remained there while his son Noah with a wife and three children came 
on to Dover and began clearing on his father’s land. After, a time he 
found work in Elyria and worked there from time to time while clearing 
on his father’s farm. This he found more remunerative than farming, 
and when in 1816 Jedediah came on to Dover with his family, he had sold 
all the land he bought from Hubbard and Stowe of Connecticut except 
two lots. He sold for $1.25 per acre, what it cost him. When he came 
his nearest neighbors were Barnabas Hall, Thomas Foot, Sylvanus Phin- 
ney, Bernard Case, Jesse Lilly, Jonathan Smith, and Harry and Jasper 
Taylor. In 1810 Moses Hall of Lee, Massachusetts, bought 2,100 acres 
of land in Dover and the same year moved with his wife and twelve chil¬ 
dren to Ashtabula. Of the Dover land he gave each of his seven sons 100 
acres and each daughter fifty acres. Two of his sons, Barnabas and 
James and a married daughter with her husband settled in Dover in 1811. 
Barnabas was located on a farm on lot 62 where he spent his life and was 
succeeded by his son Charles. James in 1821 returned to Ashtabula. 
Nathan Bassett lived on lot 82. He had a turning lathe and made chairs. 
He was known as a great hunter and was a successful bee culturist, an 
important avocation in the days before the great sugar centrals supplied 
the world with sugar. He was killed by lightning in 1842 while at work 


144 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


in his barn. But to return to the Hall family—Nancy, another daughter 
of Moses Hall, who had married David Ingersoll, settled on lot 37 in 
Dover in 1820. The couple had seven children and outlived them all, he 
dying in 1879 at the age of eighty-three, and she the same year at about 
the same age. Another son of Moses Hall, Charles, with his wife, came 
to Dover in the ’2Os and settled on lot 48. They had two children, Reuben 
and Z. S. Hall. Of Reuben we will speak in another place. Another 
pioneer family, Jesse Atwell, with wife and five children from Steuben 
County, New York, arrived in 1817. They reached Cleveland July 4 and 
pushed on to Dover, making the trip from Cleveland in a day and a half. 
They saw only one frame house on the way. Atwell bought lot 68 of 
Moses Hall. At the end of five years he bought lot 69 of the original 
owners, Hubbard and Stowe, for $4.20 per acre, thus showing that the 
price of land had advanced since the first sales in the township. Atwell 
remained on the farm until his death in 1875 at the age of eighty-nine. 
Amos Sperry came with his family from Oneida, New York, in 1815 and 
bought lot 60 of Lyman Root, who moved to Ridgville. Sperry opened 
a blacksmith shop and tavern in 1818, but he put up no tavern sign till 
1824. Supposedly the customers at the blacksmith shop sufficiently adver¬ 
tised the tavern before that time. Believing as Washington said that 
“agriculture is the most healthful, most useful, most noble employment 
of man,” he in a few years dropped the shop and the tavern and farmed 
it until his death in 1848 at the age of eighty-seven. The old tavern sign 
has been kept in the family as a souvenir of pioneer days. His son, Amos 
R. Sperry, who came a year before him, also lived out his life on the 
farm leaving a descendant, Junia Sperry. Amos R. Sperry married the 
widow of Junia Beach of Elyria. She survived her husband many years, 
living to be 100 years old. Other families that came early were those of 
Jason Bradley, John Wolf, Jethro Butler, Aaron Aldrich, Lyman Root, 
Eber Loomis and Joseph Root. 

Sylvanus Smith was the first settler at Dover Center and built a house 
there at a point that was later occupied by a store. Asa Blood, who kept 
the first tavern at the Center, married a sister of Sylvanus Smith. Other 
sisters married Ansel Rice and Asher Cooley, Dover pioneers. Smith 
built several houses at the Center, having faith in its future. In 1816 
James Case with wife and nine children came from Ashfield, Massachu¬ 
setts, and settled on the North Ridge, west of Cahoon Creek. He built a 
sawmill there but died in two years leaving a son, Bernard Case, upon 
whom devolved the care of the family. Bernard finally gave up the pioneer 
business and went back to New York. Another son, Osborn Case, went 
to Rockport in 1832. The James Case mentioned was a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war. During his short life in Dover he worked as cooper, 
miller and farmer. Sumner Adams should be mentioned, who came with 
Case in 1816, was a blacksmith in Dover for four years and then returned 
to New England. In 1826 Joseph Porter came from Ashfield, Massachu¬ 
setts, with his wife and four children, Jemima, John, Leonard and 
Rebecca. At this period in our history the age of progress was dawning. 
They came in style, took the Erie Canal to Buffalo, boat by lake to Cleve¬ 
land, and stage to Dover. The Porter family have been identified so inti¬ 
mately with the history of Dover that it may not be uninteresting to trace 
back along the line. Some 300 years ago, but after the Pilgrim Fathers 
had set the example, the first Porter, Samuel, came from England and 
landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. Like many of the pioneer families 
in Cuyahoga County, this one of whom Samuel Porter was the head, was 
characterized by long life and large families. Samuel Porter moved from 
Plymouth to Beverly. Here Samuel Porter, second, married Lydia Her- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


145 


rick of Beverly. His son Nehemiah married Hannah Smith of Beverly. 
The next in line was Nehemiah II, born at Ipswick. He graduated at 
Harvard in 1745, married Rebecca Chapman of Beverly, was Congrega¬ 
tional minister at Ipswick, and lived to lack twenty-one days of being 100 
years old. It seemed to be the passion in those days to go to Beverly for 
a wife. I know of no such book but it occurs to the writer that “The 
Belles of Beverly” would be a good title for a story. Joseph Porter, whom 
we have mentioned as coming to Dover in 1826 with his wife and four 
children, was the son of the minister, Nehemiah II. His family increased' 
to eleven, of whom L. G. Porter, long prominent in the Dover community, 
was the tenth. He was the eighth son and tenth child. L. G. Porter mar¬ 
ried in 1838 Catherine Stevens, daughter of Rev. Solomon Stevens, Con¬ 
gregational minister of Dover. Mr. Porter was justice of the peace in 
Dover for six years, and held other positions of trust. By his will, which 
was probated after his death in 1884, he left $1,000 for establishing a 
library in Dover. A charter was procured from the state on application 
of the following charter members: Dr. J. M. Lathrop, A. S. Cooley, 
R. Hall, F. J. Rose, T. H. Hurst and J. N. Hurst. The Dover Literary 
Society, an organization of young people, having the nucleus of a library, 
joined in, and the library was established under the name of the Porter 
Library and Literary Association of Dover. A building and lot was pur¬ 
chased and by petition of citizens a legislative act was passed authorizing 
the levy of two-tenths of a mill on the taxable property of the township 
for the support of the library. Thus was established a valuable adjunct to 
the schools and asset to the community. Among the early settlers, the 
Cooley family have contributed to the sum of Dover’s influence in the 
county. Two members have served in the State Legislature and it has 
been identified in local affairs of the township. In tracing the lineage in 
brief we find that Robert Cooley, or Code, as it was sometimes written, 
came to America from Ipswick, England, in 1634. He had three sons, of 
whom Benjamin, bom in 1619, was the youngest. Benjamin with his wife, 
Sarah, were among the first settlers of Springfield, Massachusetts. He was 
an ensign in King Phillip’s war against the white settlers. They had eight 
children, of whom Obadiah, born in 1646, was the second. In 1670 Obadiah 
married Rebecca Williams of Springfield. Their family consisted of seven 
children and Obadiah Cooley II was the fourth, born in 1675. This Oba¬ 
diah took a wife in 1702, whose maiden name was Dorcas Hale. They had 
six children. Noah, the second, born in 1706, married and moved to Palmer, 
Massachusetts. Their family consisted of six also. One son, Asher, was 
a member of a company of Minute Men, who marched from Palmer to 
Lexington, where occurred the first bloodshed of the Revolutionary war, 
and Noah II, the first born, was also a soldier in that war. This Noah 
Cooley, named for his father, married Esther Hyde of Monson, Mas¬ 
sachusetts, and moved to Hawley. Their children numbered five and 
Asher, among the first settlers of Dover, was the fourth born. Asher 
married Lydia Smith, whose birthplace was Chatham, Ontario. Their 
typical pioneer family numbered ten and John M. Cooley was the youngest 
member. John M., besides being active in township affairs in Dover, 
served as a member of the Sixty-first General Assembly of Ohio. At this 
session Allen G. Thurman was elected United States senator and William 
Allen was governor of Ohio. John M. Cooley was married in 1854 to 
Lucy Seymour, who had come from Connecticut to Ohio some time before. 
They had three children of whom Hon. A. S. Cooley, now serving his 
second term in the Ohio Legislature, was the first born. After the death 
of his father, Deacon Asher Cooley, J. M. Cooley occupied the old home¬ 
stead, and now after some years of residence in Cleveland, the grandson, 


146 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Hon. A. S. Cooley, or Doctor Cooley, as he is more frequently called, from 
his profession, has moved to the homestead in Dover and fitted it up with 
modern conveniences. 

Reuben Hall of Dover in 1910 published “Reminiscences of Dover 
Pioneer Life.” He said: “After the township had been partially settled 
there were four principal roads running through the town, east and west, 
and nearly parallel with each other. These were the Lake Shore, the North 
Ridge, the Middle Ridge, and the Coe Ridge roads. Between 1830 and 
1850 there was a large emigration from the eastern to the western states. 
The principal line of travel was the Middle Ridge. The log school where 
I went to school was on this road, and it was a common sight to see the 
covered wagons of the emigrants passing by. There were also two or three 
lines of stage coaches with their loads of passengers and mail going each 
way daily, with four and sometimes six horses attached. The large amount 
of travel required many hotels or taverns, as they were called in those 
days. After leaving Cleveland there was the Bullshead Tavern, then a 
little farther west Young’s Hotel, then the Brooklyn House, then the Rock- 
port House, and at Rocky River the Wright House (now Silverthorn’s), 
then the Telegraph House, and getting into Dover was one kept by old 
Granger Sperry and at Dover Center there were three, one kept by Job 
Smith, one by a Mr. Boone, and the other where the postoffice was kept, 
by Asa Blood. The latter was where the stage horses were changed for 
fresh ones to continue their course to Elyria, Toledo and Detroit. Some 
of the families who have lived in Dover and with whom I have been 
partially or intimately acquainted, are the following: The Cahoons, the 
Saddlers, the Foots, Aldrichs, Bassetts, Browns, Atwells, Clagues, Clem- 
ans, Phinneys, Bradleys, Hursts, Crockers, Halls, Stockings, Smiths, Mil¬ 
lards, Sperrys, Coes, Hands, Austins, Roses, Taylors, Johnsons, Ingersolls, 
Cooleys, and many others. The older members of these families have all 
passed away, and of the next generation and their descendants there are 
but few remaining. There is one family which I have not mentioned, the 
Lilly family. There were at one time six brothers by the name of Lilly 
living in Dover and all but one had large families. Today there is not 
one in the township by the name of Lilly, and but two who ever bore the 
name, Mrs. Ann Eliza Saddler and my wife, Mrs. Hall. Uncle Barney 
Hall and his wife, Aunt Hannah, came to Dover in 1811 and commenced 
pioneer life in their little log cabin. On September 28, 1812, while Uncle 
Barney was away and Aunt Hannah had gone to visit a sick neighbor, 
their log house was burned down. As the Indians were frequent callers 
and knew that there was a good supply of pewter dishes in the log cabin, 
it was supposed that they had taken the dishes and then set fire to the 
house to conceal their crime. Undaunted by this calamity, Aunt Hannah 
established her kitchen in the hollow of a sycamore stub, from which place 
she served refreshments at the building of the new log house, having fresh 
white ash chips for plates and using the handleless knives and forks raked 
from the ruins.” 

The first postmaster in North Dover was Asahel Porter, who kept a 
store on the lake shore near Avon in 1815. After him in the order named 
were Reuben Osborn, Eli Clemens, Calvin Phinney, ancestor of Benjamin 
Phinney, who was county commissioner of Cuyahoga County, a Dover 
resident, and Daniel Brown, who was there in the 70s. Asa Blood, whom 
we have mentioned as postmaster at Dover Center, was succeeded by 
Marius Moore and he by Hon. J. M. Cooley. A postoffice was started at 
Coe Ridge in 1843 with A. M. Coe, who settled there in 1823, as post¬ 
master. It had an uncertain tenure. In 1864 it was moved to Olmsted, 
brought back in 1867 and removed again to Olmsted in 1874. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


147 


Surveyed township number 7 of range 15 was owned as we have said 
by Nehemiah Hubbard and Josiah Stowe. The township organization as 
erected November 4, 1811, embraced in addition to number 6, range 15, 
all of number 7, range 18, east of Black River. On March 6, 1812, it 
was ordered that all that tract of land lying west of the Township of Dover 
and west of number 6 of range 16 and east of the east line of the Fire 
Lands, so-called, and north of township 5 in ranges 17, 18 and 19, be and 
they are annexed to Dover. The first election was held at the house of 
Philo Taylor April 6, 1812. Eighteen votes were cast by the following 
electors: Philo Taylor, George Kelso, John Jordon, John Brittle, Noah 
Davis, Andrew Kelso, Timothy Wallace, David Smith, Joseph Cahoon, 
Joseph Ouigley, Ralph Lyon, Joseph Root, Jonathan Seeley, Moses Eldred, 
Azariah Beebe, Lyman Root, Asahel Porter and Daniel Perry. Some of 
these first voters came as far as Black River. There is no record or 
tradition as to the selection of the name for the township. The officers 
selected at this first meeting were: Clerk of the township, Asahel Porter; 
trustees, Daniel Perry, Joseph Quigley and Asahel Porter; overseers of 
the poor, Asahel Porter, Joseph Cahoon and Azariah Beebe; fence viewers, 
Andrew Kelso and Moses Eldred; lister and appraiser, Jonathan Seeley; 
supervisors of roads, a large number because of the added territory, Noah 
Davis, Ralph Lyon, Moses Eldred, Sylvanus Fleming, Daniel Brittle and 
Lyman Post; treasurer, Philo Taylor; constables, Jonathan Seeley and 
Philo Taylor. An election for justice of the peace was held May 16th 
and John S. Reed elected as the first justice. Among those who have 
served as township officers for the first half century and more are: Trus¬ 
tees, Daniel Perry, Joseph Quigley, Asahel Porter, Nathan Bassett, Noah 
Crocker, Jonathan Taylor, John Turner, Amos R. Sperry, Wilbur Cahoon, 
Datus Kelley, Joseph Stocking, Asa Blood, Henry Taylor, Leverett John¬ 
son, Samuel Crocker, John Smith, Amos Cahoon, Thomas Foot, David 
Ingersoll, Asher M. Coe, Rial Holden, Charles Hall, Austin Lilly, Arza 
Dickinson, Aaron Aldrich, A. S. Farr, Joseph Brown, Benjamin Reed, 
Alfred Willard, William Saddler, N. Coburn, S. U. Towner, Henry Win- 
sor, Marius Moore, C. H. Tobey, Charles H. Hall, R. G. McCarty, 
C. E. Barnum, R. H. Knight, Edwin Farr, N. H. Austin, G. W. Laughlin, 
Reuben Hall, Josiah Hurst, Dennis Dow, Clark Smith, S. L. Beebe; 
clerks, Asahel Porter, John Turner, Noah Crocker, Thomas Foot, Sam¬ 
uel Crocker, John F. Smith, Asa Blood, Wills Porter, Jason Bradley, 
Eli Clemens, Austin Lilly, E. T. Smith, W. Porter, J. M. Bradley, Leverett 
Johnson, A. A. Lilly and John Wilson. Treasurer, Philo Taylor, Leverett 
Johnson, Thomas Foot, Samuel Crocker, Jedediah Crocker, Henry Taylor, 
Noah Crocker, Joseph Stocking, Hiram Smith, Asher Cooley, L. G. Porter, 
Marius Moore, Edwin Coe, D. W. Porter, Lester Simons, Jonathan 
Spencer. The township of Dover is no longer in existence as such. The 
territory after being reduced to its normal size, just embracing number 6, 
range 15, has been divided into two villages, Dover Village and Bay 
Village. Bay Village includes the northern portion of the original town¬ 
ship and includes all of the lake front property, the balance is included 
in Dover Village. The township organization is no more. In Bay Village 
are many fine residences along the lake shore. The present officers of 
Dover Village are: Mayor, R. Sneddin; clerk, C. L. Hopkins ; treasurer, 
Eugene Hickin; assessor, Henry Wulf; council, F. S. Boone, Mart Lim- 
pert, Casper Wuebker, H. H. Power, A. L. Tanner and S. A. Sperry. 
The officers of Bay Village are: Mayor, Walter, E. Wright; clerk, Jesse 
L. Saddler; treasurer, A. K. Glendenning; marshal, C. M. Geyer; council, 
I. C. Powell, Henry Koch, William J. Blaha, C. E. Osborn, Harry Drake 
and Robert Hassler. The reader will look in vain for any names among 


148 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


the officers of these villages suggestive of the early pioneer families. They 
did their work and now in these later days and in this newer era of won¬ 
derful advancement the burdens are turned over to other hands. The 
families of the pioneers are widely scattered. 

Reuben Hall in his reminiscences states that his father and mother 
after their marriage in 1819 put their household goods and a stock of provi¬ 
sions for the winter in an ox cart drawn by two yoke of oxen and with 
a boy to drive or help drive, started for their new home in the wilderness 
of Dover. After getting to Dover his father had only 50 cents left, and 
25 of this he gave to the boy to take him back to Ashtabula with one of 
the yoke of oxen. He had left not an extravagant sum with which to 
begin housekeeping, at least for a newly married couple. In 1825 the 
forest was dotted with clearings and log cabins. Valuable timber must 
be destroyed before the pioneer could raise anything to live upon. There 
was no market for lumber and no mills to cut it. The cutting down of 
trees was usually done in winter. They were cut into log lengths and 
piled into heaps for burning. As it required three men and an ox team to 
do this work, neighbors would change works, helping each other, one to 
drive the ox team and haul the logs together and two to pile the logs in 
heaps for burning. When the field, which had been chopped over was 
finished, the log heaps were fired, and it was a beautiful sight in the 
evening to see the glowing light which was cast on the surrounding forest. 
The cleared field was surrounded by a rail fence, the rails being made 
from selected logs, which were free to split. The pioneer then had a hard 
task to get in the seed for the first two or three crops for the land could 
not be plowed on account of the stumps and roots, and he had to take his 
ox team, hitch to a three cornered drag, and loosen the ground as well 
as he could. The planting of fruit trees in Dover, like that in other 
townships of the County, began early, but, on account of the nearness to 
the lake, the raising of grapes soon led all the rest. This increased 
until at one time Dover was the second largest shipping point for grapes in 
the United States, being exceeded only by Euclid in the northeast part 
of the county. 

The market in Cleveland for potash was a great boon to the first 
settlers here as in other townships. For a time about the only product 
that could be turned into money was potash. There were two asheries 
started quite early in Dover. John Rose opened one at his home and 
Philip Phillips in another part of the township. We have explained the 
method of marketing this product and its commercial value in the chapter 
on Strongsville. Rose and Phillips would gather up the ashes where the 
log heaps were burned with a team and wagon and haul them to the 
ashery for leaching. Then the lye was boiled in large iron kettles. Mr. 
Rose would drive even to Olmsted, Middleburg, and Rockport for ashes. 
In the new community many small industries sprang up to meet the 
needs of the settlers. These gradually disappeared as transportation 
facilities made possible the centralization in larger communities with the 
application of improved machinery. Amos Sperry Sr. made the nails 
used in building a barn, in his blacksmith shop. Naturally such a nail 
factory would give way quickly to machine methods but the barn went up 
with hand wrought nails. Edwin Hall had a cooper shop where he 
made barrels of many kinds including pounding barrels for domestic 
laundry work. The demand for the latter was often greater than his 
ability to supply the commodity. An industry somewhat short lived grew 
out of the discovery of iron ore beds in the township. In 1832 Tilden 
and Morley had a furnace and iron ware manufactory near where the 
ore beds were found. They had a store also and employed altogether 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


149 


twelve men. The furnace stood on the spot that was later the residence 
of Junius Sperry. Tilden and Morley sold to the Cuyahoga Furnace 
Company and in 1843 the plant was destroyed by fire. Benjamin Reed 
rebuilt in 1848, but he had only operated a short time when the supply 
of ore was exhausted. Thus ended the iron business in Dover. The 
passing of the iron industry was followed by the passing of the grist¬ 
mill that most important factor in pioneer days. 

Up to the year 1856 there were several grist mills in the township 
operated by water power. The small creeks flowing into the lake had 
sufficient fall to provide for operating the overshot wheel. In 1854 
Junia Sperry, Robert Crooks and Millard and Smith, built a steam grist¬ 
mill. This they sold to Garret Reublin and John Kirk. Afterwards the 
property was acquired by E. Carpenter and O. Lilly. They did a large 
business for several years. After another transfer to a Mr. Murphy it 
burned down. This was in 1890. In 1892 William Glasgow and his 
brother bought the mill site and built a new mill thereon installing a 
roller process for making flour and special machinery for grinding feed. 
This mill passed to several owners and then the fatality that had followed 
the locality came again and on November 23, 1811 it was totally 
destroyed by fire. The township and the gristmill, its early benefactor, 
have both passed away. Fauver and Hart built a bending factory about 
a mile southwest of Dover Center in 1850. They manufactured felloes, 
sleigh runners, and shafts. This was in operation in the ’80s but as 
Mr. Hall makes no mention of it in his Dover book we assume that it has 
gone the way of other small industries that have been supplanted by the 
greater ones, whose customers are nation and world wide. 

The religious history of Dover begins with the transplanting of a 
sprout from New England. In 1811 a Congregational Church was organ¬ 
ized in Lee, Massachusetts, with eight members, Jedediah Crocker, Sarah 
Crocker, his wife, Lydia, wife of Moses Hall, Katy Crosby, wife of 
Jedediah, Jonathan Smith and wife and Abner Smith and his wife. All 
but Mrs. Hall came to Dover, and, soon after their arrival, this organiza¬ 
tion was kept up under the name of the Congregational Church of Dover. 
They had no minister but conducted their own services and their numbers 
increased until in 1822 a log church was built. After some years the 
log church was burned and then services were held in Joseph Stocking’s 
barn and in the town house, until a frame house was erected. In 1840 
this church split on the slavery question. A part of the membership 
holding that slavery was a divine institution authorized and sanctioned by 
the teachings of the bible, and the others holding a different Hew. Of 
the divided membership, one congregation held meetings in the church 
building and the other in the town house. This state of affairs con¬ 
tinued for seven years and then the two bodies came together and reor¬ 
ganized as the Second Congregational Church of Dover, having at that 
time fifty-one members. Now the slavery question seems to have been 
withdrawn as a bone of contention but the doctrine of election, and pre¬ 
ordination, was much discussed. Says Mr. Hall: “At the session of the 
Sunday school the older members would take part, Deacon Osborn, Sr., 
Nehemiah Porter and others on the affirmative, and Deacon Ingersoll and 
Deacon Millard and others taking the negative. These discussions were 
very animated and attended with some heat.” In this connection Mr. Hall 
speaks of the revival meetings held in Dover by President Charles Finney 
of Oberlin College. He says: “Mr. Finney was of the fire and brimstone 
order of preachers and he did not fail to give emphasis to the doctrine of 
hell and the devil. This was before there were any church buildings and 
he went with his tent to different towns and set it up to hold meetings.” 


150 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Mr. Hall speaks of Mr. Finney as president of Oberlin College, but he 
was not connected with the college until 1851. There is on old record of 
this first religious organization which says: “Congregational Society, 
organized December 12th, for the support of the Gospel, 1818,” the mem¬ 
bership list is Noah Crocker, Nehemiah Porter, David Ingersoll, John 
Smith, Jesse Lilly, Asher Cooley, Wells Porter, Jonathan Smith, Slyvanus 
Phinney, Jedediah Crocker, Dennis Taylor, Barnabas Hall, James Hall, 
Samuel Crocker and Solomon Ketchum. Another record recites: “First 
Congregational Society, incorporated February 2, 1831; incorporators, 
Calvin Phinney, Slyvanus Crocker, Josiah Hurst and Reuben Osborn.” 

A Methodist Episcopal Church was organized at Dover Center in 1825. 
The first meetings were held in houses and barns and no church building 
was erected until 1853. William Dempsey, James Elliott and Jerome 
Beardslee were trustees in the ’70s. Another church of the same denom¬ 
ination was organized in a schoolhouse on the lake shore in 1827 by 
Rev. Eliphalet Johnson, brother of Leverett Johnson. It started with only 
six members and has never had a large membership, but in 1840 a church 
building was erected. Reverend Johnson preached until 1842 and was 
succeeded by circuit preachers. The First Baptist Church was organized 
February 24, 1836 with the following membership: Aaron Aldrich and 
wife, William W. and Julia Aldrich, Jesse Atwell and wife, and four 
others. This church began its meetings in the schoolhouse and nine years 
later built a church at North Dover. It continued in existence ten years 
more when services were discontinued. Among those who conducted the 
meetings were Elders Dimmick of Olmsted, Wire of Rockport and Lock- 
wood of Perry. The last settled pastor was Reverend Newton. The 
church building was burned in 1878. Another church was formed in Dover 
in pioneer days that gave expression to those wishing that form of wor¬ 
ship but which has since been abandoned. St. John’s Episcopal Church 
was organized in 1837 and a church building was put up at Dover Center 
that year. Five years after there was only a scattered membership includ¬ 
ing Charles Hall, Weller Dean, Jesse Lilly, Austin Lilly and Albanus 
Lilly. Weller Dean was lay reader, and a settled minister, Reverend 
Granville, preached for a time. Much consolation must have been derived 
from the assurance that “where two or three are gathered together, etc.” 
The little church organization dissolved in 1850. In 1858 a German 
Lutheran Church was organized and the members at the start were 
J. H. Lindemeyer, F. H. Hencke, F. Mathews, H. Luocke, J. H. Trast, 
William Schmidt, J. H. Weihrmann and August Warnecke. They first 
held their meetings in the Baptist Church at North Dover. A schoolhouse 
was built by the congregation, which was used as a church for several 
years. In 1877 a church building was erected at a cost of $4,000. The 
trustees at that time being H. H. Reinkal, G. Meyer and Christian Koch. 

The first school teacher in Dover so far as any information can be 
obtained, was Betsey Crocker, who taught in a log schoolhouse on the lake 
shore in 1816. This was before any school districts were formed but 
after the organization of the township it was a public school. Philena 
Crocker, sister of Betsey, taught there at the age of fourteen. There was 
a man teacher also, for Wells Porter wielded the switch and ferrule in 
the same locality. In 1826 there were seventy householders in the town¬ 
ship and it was divided into five school districts and a schoolhouse was 
built in each. The number of sub-districts was increased with increasing 
population. In 1880 the school enumeration of the township was 672. 
The secular school connected with the German Lutheran Church had at 
that time 115 pupils. It began with thirty-three pupils. The schools 
are now operated by separate school boards, Bay Village at the north 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


151 


constituting one school district and Dover Village the other. Parkview 
school in Bay Village accommodates all in the district. It employs six 
teachers, has an enrollment of 165 pupils, and is under the supervision of 
H. H. Wiggins. The schools of Dover Village are all in one large com¬ 
modious building located at the Center. L. E. Hayes is the superin¬ 
tendent. There are twelve teachers and they have 360 pupils enrolled. 
The methods employed in districts in the rural parts of the county, that 
involve the transportation of the distant pupils in busses to the schools, 
are employed in these school districts. 

In discussing the schools of Dover mention should be made of the 
Dover Academy. In 1845 John Wilson, a graduate of Oberlin College, 
built a building and opened a school under that name a mile and a half 
southwest of Dover Center. Success attended the school and in 1852 it 
was moved to the Center. The citizens being greatly interested organized 
a corporation and erected a building on what was later a part of the fair 
grounds. The name of the corporation was the Dover Academical Asso¬ 
ciation. Wilson, the successful teacher, was retained as principal from 
the first and remained in charge until 1860. The public schools in the 
meantime had grown to greater efficiency and were very highly regarded 
and the academy only continued two years after the first principal ceased 
his labors there. The abandoned building was afterwards used by the 
officers of the Dover Fair Association. The first directors of the academy 
were, Leverett Johnson, L. G. Porter, and Benjamin Reed, The fair asso¬ 
ciation was organized in 1850 and land bought by money advanced by 
Josiah Hurst, S. L. Beebe, and J. Coles. The property purchased was 
a little north of the Center. Annual fairs were held here from the date 
of the organization of the association and they grew in popularity from 
year to year. People from all parts of the county attended and it was 
one of the occasions that many never failed to take advantage of, regard¬ 
less of weather or conditions. Have you been to the Dover Fair? was 
a question often propounded. Julius Farr was president of the association 
in 1880 and they continued to hold these annual meetings for some time 
afterwards. 

Dover has not been devoid of fraternal orders and like her sister 
townships they were diversified. Dover Lodge of the Odd Fellows, 
No. 393, had as charter members, John Kirk, William B. Delford, C. D. 
Knapp, A. P. Smith, S. Bradford, C. L. Underhill, A. Wolf, P. W. Barton, 
W. W. Mead, A. S. Porter, Junia Sperry, J. Beardsley, D. B. Wright, 
and D. H. Perry. At the close of the 70s the officers were, Perry Powell, 
James L. Hand, James Beardsley, Benjamin Chappel and Frank Baker. 
This lodge and the township jointly built a building to be used as town 
hall and lodge room at a cost of $6,000 in 1873. Northwest Encampment, 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, was organized July 1, 1875. The 
charter members were Alfred Wolf, Alfred Bates, L. J. Cahoon, Van 
Ness Moore, Philip Phillips, Perry Powell, and Frank Baker. A little 
later the officers were Philip Phillips, Perry Powell, Jerome Beardsley, 
John Morrisey, and F. W. Guild. The Star Lodge of the Daughters of 
Rebecca was organized with sixteen charter members in 1871. The officers 
in 1879 were John Griffin, Mrs. Murry Farr, Mrs. John Griffin, Benjamin 
Chappel and Mrs. Maitland Beebe. Dover Lodge, Free and Accepted 
Masons, No. 489, organized with the list of charter members as follows: 
D R. Watson, L. M. Coe, G. Reublin, John Kirk, John Jordan, E. S. 
Lewis, J. L. Hand, S. Barry, William Lewis, G. Pease, and William 
Sprague. There were others, including the Temperance League and the 
Dover Cornet Band, which in the township, as in other townships, was 


152 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


a musical and social organization. Some of these have ceased to exist 
and others remain as a part of the social life of today. 

Reuben Hall has furnished an interesting account of the blast furnace 
previously mentioned, which comes from personal knowledge as a resident 
of the township for the period of the ordinary human life: “One of the 
largest industries which was ever undertaken in Dover was a blast furnace 
for making pig iron, which was made from bog ore, and this ore was 
found at different places on the north side of the middle ridge road between 
Rocky River and Elyria. The promoters of the enterprise were Doctor 
Tilden, of Ohio City, and Mr. Morley, a relative of the Morley who used 
to have a factory for the making of white lead, which was located at the 
junction of Canal and Champlain streets in Cleveland. It was supposed 
that the Cuyahoga Furnace Company, which was located at the foot of 
Detroit Street hill, had an interest in the enterprise, as the products of the 
furnace were taken to the Cuyahoga furnace. This enterprise required the 
services of a large number of men and teams. The wood had to be cut in 
the forest for making the charcoal, and the ore drawn from the beds to the 
furnace, and when the ore was smelted and made into pig iron, it took other 
teams to draw it to the city. A high chimney or stack was built and at the 
top of this, what was called a top-house. A bridge was' constructed starting 
from near the road and leading up to the top-house, for the purpose of 
drawing up the coal, ore and lime, to where they were to be put into the 
top of the stack. A horse and cart were used to transport the coal, ore, and 
lime over the bridge up to the top-house. One of the horses used for this 
purpose was a large, fine looking sorrel horse by the name of Mike. He 
was so intelligent and became so accustomed to the work that he would 
take his loads up to the bridgeway and deliver them in the top-house 
without a driver. The pits for charring the wood into coal were near 
where the wood was cut. A level spot of ground would be selected, and 
the wood drawn together and set on end in a circle and built up about 
the shape of a hay stack and then covered with earth, after which it was 
fired, and then watchers had to attend it night and day to keep the fire 
confined so that it would not break out and burn up the wood. When the 
coal was charred sufficiently, the dirt covering was removed and the 
charcoal taken out and drawn in wagons with high boxes to the coal shed, 
which was near the furnace, there to be kept dry for future use. There 
was a large bellows at the bottom of the stack which was worked by an 
engine with steam power to keep the coal hot enough to melt the ore. 
The cinders were drawn out at the bottom of the stack and when there 
was enough iron melted it was drawn out into beds, which had been 
formed with gutters to receive it, and when it was cool it was in the shape 
of pig iron, and was then taken by teams to the Cuyahoga furnace in 
Cleveland. The Dover blast furnace was burned down in 1844. The cause 
of the fire was, that the stack did not settle evenly and became clogged, 
and when it gave way it came down with such force that it threw the hot 
cinders and melted iron all over the building and set it on fire instantly, 
so that it could not be saved. There was one man who was sleeping in his 
berth in the plant, who was badly burned and died the next day.” While 
this furnace was in operation it was a great annoyance to the church people, 
who were brought up in the belief that no ordinary work should be done 
on Sunday. There were two churches nearby and the running of a blast 
furnace successfully requires that it continue in operation all the time, 
nights and Sundays included. There was no charge, however, that the 
cause of the fire was of divine origin. 

The record of Dover in the Civil war is creditable and there were few 
slackers when the call for troops came. Gilbert Porter, Andrew K. Rose, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


153 


George M. Miner, Thomas Hammond, Samuel H. Ames, Orlando Austin, 
Chauncey D. Hall, John Hamlin, Peter H. Kaiser, William Reed, J. Gesner, 
J. Jordan,-and Orlando Smith enlisted in the One Hundred and Twenty- 
fourth Regiment of Ohio Volunteers; John F. Flynn, Leonard G. Loomis, 
Benjamin Phinney, Bertrand C. Austin, R. W. Austin, Harrison Bates, 
Melvin B. Cousins, Asahel P. Root, William H. Webbsdale, John Griffin, 
Martin Lilly, Sanford Phinney, William Sage, David H. Taylor, Stephen 
M. Taylor, Thomas Williams, Christopher Dimmick, and Marius Tuttle, 
enlisted in the Forty-second Ohio, and Sherman Sperry, Francis Smith, 
Joseph Root, William Root, and Hiram Bartholomew, enlisted in the 
Twenty-third Ohio. In the latter end of the war when the hundred-day 
men were called out and the One Hundred and Fiftieth Ohio was formed, 
Company I was composed entirely of enlistments from Dover, Olmsted, 
and Rockport. Among them were Junia Sperry, who was a sergeant; 
John M. Cooley, Reuben Hall, Zibia S. Hall, and others from Dover. 

This township being level the question of drainage was of primary 
importance, the question of ditches often holding first place in the minds 
of the farmers. It became necessary to establish main ditches of large 
capacity into which the farms could be drained by smaller ones. County 
ditches were built and over the location of these much controversy arose. 
The county engineer or surveyor was intrusted with this work and he was 
often harassed by divided opinions on the part of the Dover residents. 
The attitude of a person who came before the electors for the office of 
county surveyor on certain ditches in the township had much to do with 
his success at the polls. As late as the 70s we often heard of “The Dover 
Ditch Wars,” but they were not wars of violence. The important ques¬ 
tion of drainage has been settled in its general character for the township. 
In speaking of the township we refer to the original territory, for, as we 
have said, the township has passed with the march of events. 

The presidential campaign of 1840 echoed in Dover as in all the rural 
communities. A mass meeting was held in Dover and large delegations 
came from other towns. The meeting was held in the woods. Avon and 
Sheffield came with a large conveyance to which was attached as the team, 
thirty-two yoke of oxen in one line. On one end of the wagon was a small 
log cabin, decorated with coon skins, and on the other a barrel of cider. 
In front of this outfit was a small donkey hitched to a cart with the driver 
seated on a box labeled “Sub Treasury.” This was intended as a hit at 
Van Buren for his position on the banking laws. Cleveland speakers 
addressed the meeting. Dover sent a delegation to a meeting at Elyria 
in this campaign, and included in the crowd was a load of thirty-six 
young ladies dressed in white to represent the thirty-six states of the 
Union and one dressed in black to represent Texas, which had gained its 
independence from Mexico and was then a republic, but, in the market for 
admission as the thirty-seventh state of the Union. It is quite likely that 
this was intended as an expression against the annexation of Texas. 

As soon as the original pioneers had cleared sufficient land, stock rais¬ 
ing became an important industry, horses, cattle and sheep. Buyers came 
from the East and the money left with the pioneers spelled prosperity. 
The sheep industry was important, as in many of the townships of the 
county, and in Dover as well the farmers kept from 100 to 200 sheep 
and it may be said that the larger share of the income for the year 
came from the sale of the “clip” of wool. The buyers would appear in 
June when the sheep were sheared. Buyers came to Dover from Cleve¬ 
land and Elyria. In the town also came John Hall and George Hall-of 
Olmsted, Goodwin of Columbia and Willson of Avon, to buy wool in the 
shearing’ season, so that there was much competitive bidding in prices. 


154 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


In 1864, during the Civil war, Doctor Moore, who lived at Dover Center, 
engaged in wool buying and he paid $1 per pound for wool that year. 
To give the other side of the stock raising industry—one year this section 
was afflicted .with a serious drought and farmers were short of winter 
feed. Sheldon Johnson of Dover bought up cattle in large numbers and 
drove them to a section not affected by the drought, to winter. He paid 
$5 and $10 per head. Reuben Hall said that, that winter his father sold 
a pair of steers for $17 that at the present time would be worth $200 
or $300. They were three years old. So runs the life of those engaged 
in “the most healthful, the most useful, the most noble employment of 
man,” farming. 

We will close this chapter on the development of number 7 of range 
15, in the original survey of the Western Reserve, with a few added notes. 
The first white child born in the township was Angelina Porter, daughter 
of Asahel Porter, who was born June 12, 1812, the second was Vesta 
Bassett, daughter of Nathan Bassett, who was born June 14, 1812. The 
first male child born in the township was Franklin, son of Joseph Cahoon. 
The first wedding was that of Leverett Johnson and Abigail Cahoon, which 
was solemnized by John S. Reed, the first justice of the peace in Dover. 
The second marriage was that of Jethro Butler and Betsy Smith. An 
incident that caused much excitement at the time was the taking captive 
by the Indians of a daughter of Daniel Page, he who built the first frame 
house in Dover. She was visiting in a neighboring township when taken 
captive. Her captivity only lasted a few days when she was rescued by 
United States soldiers. 


CHAPTER XIV 


OLMSTED 

Number 6 of range 15 was an unbroken forest when the War of 1812 
began. The outcome of war is never certain and this one had its effect on 
the minds of those who were to take part in the creation of a new 
civilization in New Connecticut. The start was made in this township 
while the war was raging. It was a timid beginning. It was a try out 
of the possibilities of the soil and might or might not be permanent. 
James Geer, while a resident of Columbia, which is now of Lorain 
County, made the initiative start in this way. Instead of making a 
clearing in the usual way, cutting and burning the trees and building his 
log house, he slipped over from Columbia, girdled a tract of timber, cut 
out the underbrush on land which was afterwards known as the Browning 
farm, and planted corn, raising what he could among the trees. This was 
in the southwest corner of the township. After peace was declared he 
came in boldly, put up a small log house and moved his family there, 
they being the first settlers and first permanent residents. Their son, 
Calvin Geer, was then a boy of seven. Sixty years later Calvin Geer 
was the oldest surviving resident of Olmsted. 

To the younger generation pioneer history may seem to be made up 
of trivial incidents. The building of the log cabin, the raising, as the log 
house gave place to the frame, the families of those who came, the 
meager details of the household equipment, marriage, birth, death, the grist¬ 
mill, the sawmill, the blacksmith shop, the store, the postoffice, may not 
seem to them of historical interest, but they are. The history of nations 
is so made up. Great successes and failures of great leaders often have 
hinged upon these so-called trivial things. “For the want of a nail the 
shoe was lost, for the want of a shoe the horse was lost, for the want 
of a horse the rider was lost, for the want of the rider the battle was 
lost, for the want of the battle the kingdom was lost, and all for the want 
of a horseshoe nail.” We will assume that the scout whom Napoleon 
sent out before the battle of Waterloo, and who reported a level field 
between the French and English forces, may have been so annoyed by 
the presence of bunions that he did not investigate as thoroughly as he 
would have done otherwise and so failed to discover the sharp ravine 
before the army of Wellington, into which, as Victor Hugo says, line 
after line of the French went down in that famous charge, until the ravine 
was filled and the remnant rode over on the living bridge. The greatest 
generals of the world have been those who have been the greatest masters 
of details. Our favorite idea of a general is that of a man on horseback 
waving a sword. General Grant insisted upon daily reports from his 
entire army. He must know just how many men were sick, what food 
they had, what stockings and other clothing and every detail of their 
equipment. These reports he pored over in his tent while others slept. 
In the founding of a new community nothing is trivial, and in all history 
the record of achievement is woven with a warp of small detail. A new 
settlement was a little world in itself and its happenings that might seem 
to us now unimportant became the theme of the community. These were 

155 


156 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


discussed with a thoroughness of detail that to us now might seem to 
indicate that the first settlers were of inferior mentality. They were 
otherwise. The changes came with the denser population. This is shown 
in the conduct of the newspapers and their news items. As the com¬ 
munity grew, space became important. Reporters were instructed to 
condense. It has been related that one news writer, who had been repri¬ 
manded by the editor for extending his items, turned in the following: 
“John Smith, of Podunk, blew into his gun to see if it was loaded. It was. 
Funeral at 4 o’clock at his late residence.” In contrast to this condensed 
item we give one taken from the early annals of Olmsted: 

“The Second Death and Serious Accident.—In 1819 D. J. Stearns 
had an Irish boy working for him, whose parents resided in Ridgeville, 
now Lorain County. One day the boy obtained permission to visit his 
home, promising to return in time to do the chores at night. The night 
set in dark and the boy did not return. His wife being away, Mr. Stearns 
was at home alone. Late in the night he heard an agonized voice shriek¬ 
ing ‘Oh, dear! Oh, dear!’ at some distance from the house. For a moment 
it ceased and then it was heard again nearer than before. Mr. Stearns 
stepped out of the door when he was suddenly grasped by a man, who 
flung his arms around him in a state of frantic excitement, crying out 
at the same time: ‘Oh, my boy is kilt! my boy is kilt! my boy is kilt!’ As 
soon as Mr. Stearns could recover from his astonishment and get the 
man to the light, he found that the visitor was Mr. Hanley, the father 
of John, the boy who had worked for him. It was with great difficulty 
that he could quiet the frantic Irishman so as to obtain even the slightest 
idea of what was the matter. At length, however, he succeeded in learn¬ 
ing from the broken ejaculations of the distracted father, mingled with 
cries and groans and sobs of anguish, that Hanley and his son had been 
coon hunting and that a large tree had fallen upon his boy and had prob¬ 
ably crushed him to death, a mile or two out in the woods to the Northeast. 
Knowing that he could do nothing without assistance, Mr. Stearns made 
Hanley promise to remain at the house until he could obtain aid. His 
nearest neighbor, Amos Briggs, was absent, and there were no others 
nearer than a mile and a half. He accordingly went to the Briggs stable 
and took his horse to go for help. Ere he could mount, however, Hanley 
came rushing up and again flung his arms about the young man, crying 
out that ‘his boy was kilt,’ in all the agony of unreasoning despair. Again 
Mr. Stearns pacified him and persuaded him to return to the house. 
The former then rode a mile and a half and obtained the help of three 
newcomers, Bennett Powell, John Cole and another, whose name is not 
recollected. The four returned with all speed to Stearns’ house, where 
they found the desolate father, with whom they set out to find the scene 
of the disaster. Hanley, however, had been so frightened and demoralized 
by the catastrophe that he could give no clear idea of the direction to be 
taken. Nevertheless he thought it was somewhere west of north and 
he knew there was a burning tree where the sad event had occurred. 
The five men hurried forward in the darkness in the general direction 
indicated and at length saw a light in advance. Shaping their course 
toward it they soon arrived at a burning tree; there they soon found that the 
distracted father’s words were but too true: the poor boy was indeed 
killed. A large tree lay where it had fallen directly across the youth’s 
head, which was crushed out of all semblance of humanity, while his 
body was raised from the ground by the pressure on his head. It seems 
as they gathered from Hanley’s broken statements and from his subse¬ 
quent utterances in a quieter state, that he had persuaded his son to 
remain and hunt coons with him instead of returning to Stearns’ that 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


157 


night. They had gone east a mile or two along the line between town¬ 
ships 6 and 7, Olmsted and Dover, and had then borne southward in the 
former township. At length, the night being cold and damp, they built 
a fire at the foot of a hollow ash tree and determined to wait for the 
moon. The boy lay down on a grassy knoll a short distance from the 
fire, while his father sat with his back against a hickory tree in the oppo¬ 
site direction and both soon went to sleep. An hour or so later the old 
man was awakened by a tremendous crash directly overhead. The hollow 
ash had burned off and had fallen against the hickory by which he sat. 
The tough wood of the latter bent before the blow and then recoiled 
with such force that it threw the ash back in the opposite direction so as 
to fall directly across the head of the sleeping boy. His father was so 
frightened and horrified that he ran screaming into the woods entirely 
at random and by mere accident came out at Mr. Stearns’ clearing.” The 
description of the releasing of the body, the conduct of the father and the 
return and burial, occupy nearly as much space as that already given. 

This account so minute in detail of a tragedy in the woods reflects 
in some measure the attitude of mind of those isolated from the larger 
communities. This accidental death was the topic of conversation in 
the township for a long time. Calvin Geer related to his descendants as 
his earliest remembrance the killing of a bear on the bank of Rocky River, 
shortly after their arrival in the new settlement. His father was the 
marksman and the animal, which he described as a very large bear, ap¬ 
peared near their cabin on Sunday evening. Three shots were required, 
as the first two only wounded the animal. This became in the mind of 
the pioneer boy a lasting memory. Boys of today, who view bears in 
Brookside Zoo, are not so impressed as were the pioneer boys who saw 
them, unfettered by iron bars, in the dark woods. 

In the year 1815 Elijah Stearns and his son David Johnson Stearns 
came to the township. It was then called Kingston, and that name 
adhered for several years before it was changed to Olmsted. David 
had a large family of boys and wanted land enough to keep them em¬ 
ployed, so he bought 1,002 acres of land on Butternut Ridge, in the 
northwest part of the township. For this he paid $2 per acre. D. J. 
Stearns, his son, was then twenty-one, strong and active, and remarkably 
well fitted for pioneer labor. He was allotted 150 acres of land by his 
father, but it became necessary to make a trip to Vermont to get a 
perfected title. This he did after awaiting for some time for the original 
purchasers to send a surveyor. In the meantime he had cleared quite a 
tract on the allotment, which to identify was, in after years, the residence 
of Buel Stearns. In 1816 he came back, having straightened out the 
title, and brought with him Alva and Asa Knapp, brothers, who only 
stayed long enough to assist in the building of a log house and do some 
clearing. The first purchaser from the Connecticut Land Co. was 
Aaron Olmsted and Mr. Stearns had to get his title from the trustees 
of his estate, he having died after his purchase was made. This was 
not a cash sale, as four notes were given, one of which after its can¬ 
cellation was retained as a souvenir of the purchase. Young Stearns 
also took the agency from the trustees for the sale of their land. He 
only sold two lots when the sale was stopped for some unexplained 
reason. As an instance of the intensity with which the settlers worked, 
it is recorded that David Stearns and James Geer celebrated the Fourth of 
Tuly, 1816, in clearing a roadway from Rocky River and along Butternut 
Ridge toward the home of Mr. Stearns. They worked from sunrise 
to sunset cutting out brush and saplings and opened a roadway for a 
distance of two miles. During this year Daniel Bunnell moved from 


158 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Columbia to the northeast corner of Kingston, as it was then called, 
and put up a rough plank house, this being the third settlement made 
in the township. Owing to the stopping of sales by the proprietors, 
Bunnell remained alone in that part of the township until 1819, keeping 
bachelor’s hall the whole time. Except in the matter of bread, he got 
along nicely, but in 1817 he paid $3 a bushel for wheat and had to haul 
it from Black River, then, being otherwise employed, he sent another 
man to mill. This man started with an ox team and drove to the Chagrin 
River before he found a mill that was open for business. The whole 
journey occupied just a week. Another drawback was the scarcity of 
salt, to one who depended to an extent upon wild game. Salt at that 
time was $20 a barrel. This year Amos Briggs settled on the west side 
of Butternut Ridge on a tract that became known as the Robb farm. 
In 1818 Isaac Scales built a house at the east end of the ridge and moved 
his family in. They had no neighbors for a year and Mr. Scales worked 
in Columbia, leaving his wife alone. She had many experiences. Said 
she often got up in the night to drive wild cats out of the loft with a broom. 
One day a bear came to the house and got into a controversy with the 
dog, which wound up by the dog getting hugged by the bear in the front 
yard. Mrs. Scales made what noise and demonstration she could from 
the house, and finally the bear ambled off into the woods. The dog sur¬ 
vived but led an invalid life from that time on. She was frequently vis¬ 
ited by wandering Indians, but they were no more annoying than the 
tramps that infested the township in later years, but it was trying to the 
nerves in view of her knowledge of Indian treachery and Indian bar¬ 
barity. The first wedding in the township was that of Harry Hartson 
and Eunice Parker Geer. This took place at the home of James Geer 
in the spring of 1817. Hartson and wife located near the Geer home. 
In the same spring there was a birth at the Geer cabin, a daughter Julia. 
She died two years later. Thus at the home of the first settler occurred 
the first wedding, the first birth and the first death in the township. In 
1819 Stearns married Polly Barnum, this being the second marriage. 
This year Maj. Samuel Hoadley and family settled near the Scales farm 
at the east end of Butternut Ridge. The major was quite an interesting 
and cultivated man, but he took his family into a log house. He imme¬ 
diately began building a better one. The frame of the new house was 
about ready to raise and one day late in the summer, the major and his 
wife left home for the day leaving their two daughters, Marie and Eunice, 
in charge of the household. The carpenter, James Miles, and his helper, 
Elliott Smith, were working on the frame for the new house. During the 
day Mrs. Scales came over for a neighborly call. Now these girls of the 
major’s were wide awake, vivacious and withal athletic and they planned 
a surprise for the major and his wife and decided to have a raising without 
the usual large crowd of neighbors to help. All agreed including Mrs. 
Scales, the caller. Under the direction of the carpenter they carried the 
timbers in place for the matching and pinning and then when the bents 
were ready, all together, with hands and pike poles and to the resonant 
“he o he,” the bents went up to place and the raising was accomplished. 
When the major and his wife returned and in astonishment asked about 
the raising, the girls said in a casual way, Oh! we did it, indicating that 
it was nothing out of the ordinary for them. The next spring, one of the 
heroines of the raising married John Adams. This was Marie. Soon the 
other, Eunice, married John Barnum. They needed no matrimonial agency 
to advertise their qualifications to become the wives of pioneers. 

From 1819 the population increased rapidly and in the five years fol¬ 
lowing came Isaac Frost, Zenas Barnum, Harry Benjamin, Crosby Baker, 



Pioneer Parade 










160 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Horace F. Adams, Amos Wolf, Truman Wolf, Christian Wolf, Charles 
Usher, Hezekiah Usher, Ransom J. Adams, Hosea Bradford, H. G. See- 
kins, Watrous Usher, Noble Hotchkiss, Thomas Briggs, Otis Briggs, 
Lyman Frost, Lucius Adams, and Alva, Elijah, Jr., Vespasian, Elliott, 
and A. G. and R. Stearns. Besides these six Stearns brothers, a seventh, 
Sidney Stearns, came to the settlement and began clearing but died shortly 
afterwards. During this period after 1819, Lemuel Hoadley and Crosby 
Baker built the first gristmill and sawmill on the west branch of Rocky 
River, just above the east branch or the junction with it. There was a 
sufficient population to begin to crystallize into an organized community. A 
small Methodist society was organized and had occasional meetings. Clear¬ 
ings were made in all parts of the township except the southeast, which 
was the last to be occupied. And yet old Indian wigwams were still 
standing, and Indians came from time to time trapping for fur animals. 
D. J. Stearns found an old Indian sugar bush on the tract that in later 
years was known as the Taylor farm. Previous to the advent of the white 
man into this township the Indians were wont to come annually to this 
place to make sugar. The squaws made the sugar, as they did all of the 
labor, other than hunting, fishing, and fighting, which was reserved for the 
males, the warriors. They made sap troughs of birch bark. These they 
brought with them from Sandusky, as there is, and was, no birch in this 
township. Kettles in which to boil the sap they got from the white settlers 
on their way to the camp. After they had sugared off, the sugar was 
stored in a great trough made of elm bark, which would hold twelve or 
fifteen barrels. Here it was kept for common use while the tribe was in 
this locality. The residue was carried back with them to Sandusky, when 
the stay was over. In 1823 the township number 6 range 15 was 
organized under the new name of Lennox. Just why this name was 
selected is not known for it had previously been called Kingston and was 
so called when the first Stearns came as a permanent settler. The first 
election was held on April 14th and the following officers elected: Trustees, 
Amos Briggs, Hosea Bradford, and Watrous Usher; clerk, D. J. Stearns; 
treasurer, Isaac Frost. Two years later the township was dismembered 
and made as naught. The east part, or half, was annexed to Middleburg 
and the west half to Ridgeville, and two years after this the township was 
again erected and the broken halves united into one township. The elec¬ 
tion was held in June, 1827. The name was still Lennox and the officers 
chosen were: Trustees, Truman Wolf, Alva Stearns, and Elias C. Frost; 
clerk, D. J. Stearns; treasurer, Isaac C. Frost; justice of the peace, 
Watrous Usher, and constables, Joel B. Lawrence and Elliott Smith. The 
first tax levy made was one half of a mill on the dollar of the property of 
the township. The township was immediately divided into three school 
districts and schoolhouses built. Watrous Usher built a sawmill at Olm¬ 
sted Falls about this time. This township was quite well watered, to use 
the expression found in the old geographies. The west branch of the 
Rocky River traverses the township and meets with the east branch some 
distance from its border and Plum Creek, a considerable stream, adds to 
the water privileges. About these streams clustered quite early embryo 
villages, while the territory away from them was composed of much 
primeval forest. It has been said that bears at this period of our history 
were quite numerous and grew to great size fattening on the pigs of the 
early settlers, who often let these animals run wild in the woods. The 
rifles of the men thinned the bears to some extent but the busy pioneers 
had little time for hunting. Stearns said a good hunter did not make a 
good farmer. He kept a rifle just the same for emergencies. 

We trust the boys and girls as well as the grown-ups will read our 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


161 


history and we must tell a bear story occasionally because these are true 
bear stories drawn from the experiences of the early settlers and boys and 
girls like true stories, even if in the telling, they do not point to a moral 
as do the fables. Mr. Stearns hired a boy to work for him, who was new 
to the great woods. He had hunted squirrels at home in the grove by his 
house and he was anxious to do the same in the great woods where he 
thought these animals must be larger and more interesting game. One 
day he borrowed Mr. Stearns’ rifle and went out hunting. After hunting 
for some time he saw what he thought was a big black squirrel in a hollow 
tree. He put the gun up to a hole and fired. The black squirrel came out 
wounded and growling and pitched upon his dog. Astonished at such 
conduct on the part of a squirrel the boy hurried home as fast as he could 
run. Arriving almost out of breath he said: “Oh Johnson!” calling Mr. 
Stearns by his first name, “I seen the monstrousest, biggest black squirrel 
out in the woods that ever I seen in all my born days.” He told such a 
vivid story that the next morning the men went with him to the tree which 
they found marked high with blood where the bear, for it was a bear, had 
rubbed his wounded head. Some thought the squirrel was too large even 
for a bear. They followed the trail by the blood, overtook and shot the 
bear. It was the largest one any of the pioneers had ever seen. The 
bullet of the young squirrel hunter had passed through his nose and broken 
his jaw. After 1830 bears disappeared entirely from the township but 
deer remained much longer as well as wild turkeys. Hundreds of wild 
turkeys were shot and they often had turkey dinners in the log cabins. 

This township, as we have said, was first organized under the name 
of Lennox, having been called before that time Kingston. Two years after 
it was divided and had no name. Two years after that it was organized 
again with the same territory and the old name Lennox. And two years 
after the second organization the name was changed to Olmstead. The 
only change in name since has been the spelling, as it is now written Olm¬ 
sted. As related, Aaron Olmstead was the first owner. In 1829 Charles 
H. Olmstead, a descendant, who inherited the unsold land, which was 
mostly in the north part, offered to make the township a present of a 
library if they would change the name from Lennox to Olmstead. The 
offer was accepted and the name was changed and the first election under 
the name Olmstead was held in 1830. In 1831 seven brothers by the name 
of Fitch settled in the central part of the township, at least three came that 
year and the rest shortly after. They were Chester, Eli, Horace, Chaun- 
cey, Elisha, Daniel and Sanford Fitch. Their families made a large 
increase in the population and the town shortly became a town of Fitches 
and Stearnses, to almost as marked a degree as did Brooklyn in the early 
days become a town of Fishes and Brainards. One year before the 
Fitches came, Major Hoadley and his son-in-law, John Barnum, built a 
sawmill on Plum Creek at Olmsted Falls. Business started up at once, 
and, as there was no house near, and Barnum wanted to be near his work, 
and having as we have related a real pioneer wife, he moved at once and 
improvised a home until, from the product of the mill, he could get one 
more convenient. He cut down a whitewood tree near the bank of the 
creek and this formed one end of the house. Then with a few smaller 
logs and with saplings for a roof, he moved in. This was only temporary 
as he began at once the building of a convenient house. Luther Barnum, 
who in later years was a prominent citizen of the township, was then only 
one year old. 

These little communities that sprang up in the various townships of 
the county bred up many individual and eccentric characters. Every town¬ 
ship had its peculiar character unlike any other. They were absolutely 


162 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


original and individual. Today in the large centers of population men 
become types of a class. Each city to some extent is peopled with those 
who derive their habits of thought and expression from each other. The 
individual characteristics are ground off by contact with others. This was 
not true of many of the pioneers and a man of peculiar and unusual per¬ 
sonality was found in every settlement and often there were several. They 
were the court jesters, the entertainers, the necessary relief from the hard 
toil of the workers in subduing the forest and at the same time procuring 
subsistence for the home. Olmsted had a man by the name of Powell, who 
some claimed was not mentally balanced, but he was not a fool. It seems 
Uriel Kilpatrick had built a little “packet” gristmill on Plum Creek for 
custom work. He was as slow as “molasses in January” and the mill 
partook of the characteristics of its owner. The patience of his customers 
was tried to the utmost in the long wait for their grists and the many 
promises and postponements. Powell, among his other eccentricities, wrote 
poetry. He had some grievance against the miller, Kilpatrick, and went to 
Mr. Barnum, a justice of the peace for a warrant. The justice refused 
the request and in a joking way suggested that he write a poem about 
Kilpatrick, which would be just as effective as a warrant. Powell at once 
got off the following and included a rap at the justice. Basswood mauls 
or beetles were those most used by the settlers: 

“Iron beetles are seldom found 
But basswood justices here abound. 

On the banks of the Rocky River, 

Tall Kilpatrick’s nose doth quiver; 

There he sits in his slow mill, 

Which most folks think is standing still.” 

The poetry did not destroy the mill, for it continued in operation 
for ten or twelve years. Hoadley and Barker’s gristmill at the river 
junction was sold to Loyal Peck, who continued the business for some 
time. It has long since been forgotten. After Kilpatrick’s slow motion 
had ceased altogether, Peter Kidney built a gristmill on the river below 
the mouth of Plum Creek. N. P. Loomis, who came to Olmsted in 1834, 
found no road through the village and only a path along the bank of 
the river. The main road had been slashed out, that is, the underbrush 
and saplings cut, but it was not ready for use. Where the Union school 
building was later erected there was a frog pond and only six houses 
stood on the present site of the village. Up to this time householders 
had kept travelers, but there was no regular hotel until this year, when 
William Romp built a large frame hotel and store near the river below 
Butternut Ridge. This was the first store, as well as hotel, for previously 
only householders had kept a few goods to accommodate their neighbors. 
In this year also the first church was built. It was a union church, 
built by the Presbyterians, Methodists and Universalists, each denomina¬ 
tion raising what money they could. It was an equitable arrangement, 
for each denomination was to have the use of the building in proportion 
to the amount contributed. This building was afterwards used as a 
town hall. It was located at Town House Corners, two miles north of 
Olmsted Falls. This was used as a town hall until 1849, when the town 
business and official capital was moved to the Falls. The first Sunday 
school was organized on Butternut Ridge in 1834. This section was 
settled with an unusually intellectual class of people, who went in for 
intellectual and moral improvement more than the average of the 
pioneers. In 1837 a lyceum or debating school was formed in district 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


163 


No. 1, which was located near the east end of the ridge. Here future 
lawyers, politicians and statesmen clashed in intellectual encounter. From 
1834 the township emerged rapidly from the pioneer stage. The clearings 
were extended, stumps began to disappear, frame houses replaced the log 
ones, and pumps took the place of the picturesque well sweeps that were, 
earlier, in almost every door yard. The town was changing by the sturdy 
strokes of the pioneers to the uneventful life of a farming community, but 
like Middleburg, other interests came to the front. The younger mem¬ 
bers of the community proved to be expert with the rifle and venison 
was still a large factor in the food supply. This continued until the 
Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad was built through the town¬ 
ship, when soon after, as in Middleburg, the last of the wild animals 
disappeared. In 1853 the Toledo, Norwalk & Cleveland Railway, which 
became in after years a part of the Lake Shore Railroad, was opened. 
This passes through the township running east and west, in about the 
center of the territory. About these two stations clustered a small 
village, in embryo. The station of the Cleveland, Columbus & Cin¬ 
cinnati road was at once named West View and the village the same. This 
village never was incorporated and never got a place on the map, other 
than as a railway station. Olmsted Falls, a station on the other railway, 
had a steady and healthy growth. It was incorporated as a village in 1857, 
but at the first election there .were only twenty-six votes cast. The next 
year the settlement at Plum Creek was added to Olmsted Falls, and in 
addition to that, following the pioneer era, it was discovered that the 
stone that cropped out in Rocky River had the qualities of the Berea 
sandstone and quarries were opened, but some time afterwards. In 1870 
a quarry was opened at West View, and there were employed twenty-five 
men in the building stone industry. A short line railroad was built for 
shipping the stone to the station. At one time there were two quarries in 
the township employing fifty men each. The growth of the village con¬ 
tinued. In the ’80s there were at Olmsted Falls four general stores, four 
drug stores, two tailor shops, three shoe shops, a blacksmith shop, a 
tin shop, a gristmill, a broom factory, a felloe shop and a lumber yard, 
and the population of the village was about 700. 

The broom factory was operated for many years by John and Joseph 
Lay. In addition to manufacturing a marketable product that was needed 
in every home, this industry also provided a new farming product mar¬ 
ket, for the broom corn must be raised for the brooms. The Lays also 
operated a bending factory in connection with their broom factory. Frank 
R. Lay of a younger generation was for some time active in the factory. 
He is now a resident of Indianapolis, Indiana. This industry has gone 
the way of many of the earlier ones that made for prosperity in the new 
communities, which have drifted in natural evolution to the larger manu¬ 
facturing centers. The gristmill of Edward Damp on Rocky River had 
a good reputation and customers came from the surrounding towns as 
well as Olmsted. 

The Universalist Church was organized by Rev. Harlow P. Sage in 
1834. This was the first church of that denomination in this part of 
the county. Rev. Stephen Hull, the first minister, remained for fifteen 
years. This church joined with others, as we have stated, in building the 
first church. In 1847 the congregation built a church of their own on 
Butternut Ridge. In 1868 the church was incorporated under the laws 
of Ohio. The second pastor was Rev. Isaac Henry, who stayed ten 
years. After Reverend Henry came Reverends Tillotson, French, Ship- 
man, Sykes, Rice and Canfield, in their order. In 1878 came an innova¬ 
tion,’ when Rev. Mrs. Danforth was called to the pastorate. It may not 


Vol. 1-6 


164 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


be historically correct to say that she was the first lady preacher called 
to a regular pastorate in the county, but she was one of the few. The 
trustees of this church under her pastorate, or at least at its beginning, 
were Buel Stearns, Jonathan Carpenter and John Foster. The Wesleyan 
Methodist Church was organized at West View in 1843. The first 
members were: Ransom Bronson and Harriet, his wife, John Adams and 
Maria, his wife, Lucius Adams and Electa, his wife, Mary and Sarah 
Banarce. As in other townships in the early days, this church was 
served by circuit preachers. The first were Revs. James Pearson and 
William Beehan. When first organized, this church was called Hoadley’s 
Mills Church or the Station Church. In 1861 the name settled down to 
the West View Methodist Church. The circuit riders were called 
preachers rather than pastors. In 1863 Revs. A. W. Sanderson, W. B. 
Moody and G. C. Hicks came. In 1864-5 Rev. E. A. Fink, in 1866-7 
Rev. Thomas F. Hicks, in 1868-9-10 Rev. J. Nettleton, in 1871-2-3 
Rev. J. E. Carroll. Revs. Nettleton and Moody preached again in the 
70s and Rev. William Snell. The stewards in this period were H. Walk- 
den, Joseph Reed, J. Case, and the clerk was O. P. Smith. The trustees 
were R. Bronson, T. Price, J. Adams, A. J. Rickard and B. Ruple. There 
was a church in North Dover, the building located in the northeast part 
of the township, drawing its congregation largely from Rockport and 
Dover townships, of the same denomination and served by the West View 
minister. There was a Methodist Episcopal Society at Olmsted Falls 
as early as 1843. In 1851 a church building was erected there under the 
official supervision of Lestor Bradford, Charles Monks, Chauncey Fitch, 
William Butlin and Asahel Osborne, trustees. The stewards at that 
time being composed of these men and David Wright, and Stephen Brad¬ 
ford in addition. Nearly a hundred years ago a church was built by the 
Methodists out on Butternut Ridge. This building was in later years 
transferred to the Congregationalists. The first pastor was Rev. H. C. 
Johnson, and he was followed by Revs. Clisbee, Westervelt, Bosworth, 
Grosvenor and Patchin. The deacons in the ’80s were Richard Carpenter, 
James Garrison, Mr. Young and Benjamin Salisbury. 

St. Mary’s Catholic Church was organized in 1855 by Father Louis 
Filiere. In the same year the congregation built a church at Olmsted 
Falls. Father Filiere remained until 1874, when he was succeeded by 
Father Edward J. Murphy, and his successor was Father James M. 
Cullen. The church was built in the north part of the village and was 
then moved to the south part. Here was erected in addition a stone 
parsonage and a schoolhouse. John Dalton, Patrick McCarty and Joseph 
Ward were councilmen in the 70s. The first Congregational Church, and 
the first in the township, was organized at Olmsted Falls in 1835. It 
started with quite a membership. Like many in the county it was closely 
allied with the Presbyterian Church, and changed about. At one time 
it was allied with the Cleveland Presbytery and afterwards changed back 
to the Congregational system. The first members were Mary Ann Fitch. 
Jerusha Loomis, Cynthia House, Catherine Nelson, Abner, Sylvester, 
and Summer W. Nelson, William Wood and Mary Ann Wood, Rachel 
Wait, Emeline Spencer, Lydia Cune, Jotham and Anna S. Howe, Harriett 
Dryden, Ester E. Kennedy. The first regular pastor was Rev. Israel 
Mattison. Other early pastors have been Revs. James Steel, O. W. White, 
Z. P. Disbro, R. M. Bosworth, Richard Grogan, John Patchin. A church 
was built at the Falls in 1848. Hugh Kyle, O. W. Kendall and N. P. 
Loomis were trustees in the 70s. It was always an event of special 
interest when Dan Bradley, then a student at Oberlin, came to this church 
to preach of a Sunday. Many remember the stirring addresses he gave. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


165 


The present pastor of Pilgrim Congregational Church of Cleveland gave 
promise at that early stage of his pulpit experience of a career of great 
usefulness. 

Quite early in the history of Olmsted a Union school was established 
at Olmsted Falls. This was an indication of the progressive character 
of the people. We have referred to the Lyceum organized on the Ridge 
in 1837. This was the first departure from the one room schools of the 
pioneers. The consolidation of these district schools under one head 
was not then thought of. The first agitation for this plan began, so far 
as this county was concerned, in the ’80s in the county teachers’ institutes. 
The condition of the roads at that time did not make the idea so attractive 
and the gasoline motor was not in existence. At present the schools of 
Olmsted are consolidated under the township plan. North Olmsted has 
its separate school district and Olmsted Falls Village and Olmsted Town¬ 
ship are united in school management. At present North Olmsted has 
two school buildings, with an enrollment of 335 pupils, and ten teachers 
are employed. The superintendent is Ralph Myers. Olmsted Falls and 
Olmsted Township are accommodated by one large building at the Falls. 
There are enrolled 369 pupils and there are thirteen teachers. The 
superintendent is G. C. Imhoff. Among the teachers of an earlier period 
may be mentioned O. W. Kendall and Charles R. Harding. “Charley”' 
Harding taught for some time in the Union School and was active in the 
County Teachers’ Institute. O. W. Kendall was for many years county 
school examiner and had probably during his active school life the largest 
acquaintance among teachers of any one in the county. His home was- 
near Turkey Foot Grove on the banks of Rocky River, and he lies in a 
cemetery near that beautiful grove, remembered by a host of warm friends 
who knew him in his lifetime. We have not the names of many who 
taught in the district schools of Olmsted. Miss Emma Pillars, now Mrs. 
Charles S. Whittern of Cleveland, was a teacher in Olmsted just 
over the line in Lorain County for about ten years, and her teaching 
experience is typical of that of many teachers in the “Little Red School- 
house.” She taught in several districts, on Butternut Ridge and on the 
Dutch Road, so called. For several of her first terms she “boarded 
around.” Thus to the salary which the school authorities were able to 
pay was added her board furnished by the various families in turn. Often 
the boarding place was a mile or two from the schoolhouse and there were 
no sidewalks nor paved roads. It should be remembered that in those days, 
the snows in winter were just as deep and continuous as now and the 
mud in spring and fall just as deep and tenacious. The snows were wel¬ 
come, for with them came the sleigh rides and the jolly parties, long to. 
be remembered. In the one-room school Miss Pillars taught classes in 
their ABC lessons and on up to algebra and geography, to which was 
added in the text books of that time a few pages of astronomy. When 
asked how she got along boarding around she said: “Oh, when I got to. 
a particularly good place, and was asked to stay longer, which was often 
the case, I stayed on.” In these schools there was no need of a “parent 
teachers’ meeting,” which is held to be so beneficial by school superin¬ 
tendents of today. 

Unlike Dover, the township of Olmsted is still in existence. The first 
break in its political entity was in 1856. Then the Village of Olmsted 
Falls was formed, but it did not incorporate in its boundaries a very large 
portion of the territory of the original township. The first officers of 
the village were: Mayor, Thomas Brown; recorder, William S. Carpen¬ 
ter; councilmen, H. S. Howe, N. P. Loomis, William W. Smith, Thomas 
Broadwell and George C. Knight. Among the mayors who served in 


166 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


the early days are William S. Carpenter, William Giddings, O. W. Kendall, 
N. P. Loomis, Elisha Fitch, D. H. Cottrell, H. IC. Miner, L. B. Adams 
and Luther Barnum. The present officers of the village are: Mayor, 
Edgar R. Bayes; clerk, A. L. Hindall; treasurer, G. H. Spaulding; as¬ 
sessor, James McGill; marshal, A. Brause; councilmen, J. E. Anton, E. E. 
Braisch, A. T. Burt, G. M. Hecker, Robert McKay and R. E. .Stinch- 
comb; board of public affairs, D. E. Bones, W. G. Locke and P. Sim- 
merer. North Olmsted, a newer incorporation, embraces the territory 
of the northern part of the township, and has a much larger area than 
the Falls. It has, as we have said, a separate school district. The present 
officers of the village are: Mayor, L. M. Coe; clerk, A. C. Reed; treas¬ 
urer, C. A. Beebe; assessor, Frank Bliss; councilmen, A. Biddulph, H. K. 
Bidwell, H. Christenau, A. G. Douglass, A. L. Romp and R. G. Yes- 
berger. Among those that have served as trustees of the original town¬ 
ship are Amos Briggs, Watrous Usher, Hosea Bradford, D. Ross, Tru¬ 
man Wolf, A. Stearns, Alva Stearns, Noble Hotchkiss, Lucius Adams, 
Vespasian Stearns, Elias Frost, Jonas Clisbee, J. Barnum, John Kennedy, 
J. Carpenter, William Wood, Hiram Frisbee, Hiram B. Gleason, Peter 
Kidney, Sanford Fitch, Chauncey Fitch, Joseph S. Allen, Oliver Welden, 
E. Fitch, Caleb Cook, George M. Kellip, H. K. Miner, Norman Dutcher, 
Alanson Tilly, Samuel Daniels, John Ames, Thomas Brown, Eastman 
Bradford, James P. Rice, C. R. Vaughn, Lewis Short, Calvin Geer, 
Luther Barnum, Benoni Bartlett, William J. Camp, D. H. Brainard, James 
Hickey, William Busby, Clayton Sharp, L. C. Tanney, John Hull and 
William T. Williams; clerks, D. J. Stearns, Jonas Clisbee, Orson Spencer, 
Hiram B. Gleason, Jotham Howe, A. W. Ingalls, Chester Phillips, J. B. 
Henry, Elliott Stearns, Caleb Cook, G. W. Thompson, A. G. Hollister, 
N. P. Loomis, James H. Strong, Richard Pollard, O. W. Kendall, J. G. 
Fitch, Asahel Osborn, R. Pollard and Henry Northrup; treasurers, Isaac 
Frost, Thomas Briggs, Buel Peck, A. Stearns, John Adams, Nahum Rice, 
Hiram B. Gleason, Jotham Howe, A. W. Ingalls, Elisha Fitch, William 
Romp, N. P. Loomis, James H. Strong, Eastman Bradford, C. P. Druden, 
W. W. Mead and George B. Dryden. W. W. Dryden served in the 
office of treasurer for a long period. D. J. Stearns, the first clerk of 
Olmsted, was born in Dover, Vermont, and came to Olmsted in 1815. 
His grandfather, Eliphalet Stearns, of English birth, was a captain in 
the Revolutionary war, and his father, Elijah, was a lieutenant in that 
war. F. J. Bartlett, who was justice of the peace in Olmsted, was a 
captain in the Civil war. His father and mother were born in England. 
Mr. Bartlett served as justice of the peace in Strongsville Township 
twelve years before coming to Olmsted, where he was elected to the 
same office. For years he was proprietor of Cedar Mills at Cedar Point, 
the junction of the east and west branches of Rocky River. He served 
as commander of Olmsted Falls Post No. 634 of the Grand Army of the 
Republic and was a member of fraternal organizations in other towns. 
T. E. Miller, a later trustee of the township, was also a member of the 
school board for sixteen years. Charles F. Stearns, another trustee of 
later years, lost a son, Louis, in the Civil war. He was the son of 
Elijah Stearns and one of a family of eleven children. The present officers 
of the township are: Trustees, R. T. Hall, S. W. Jennings and H. K. 
Otterson; clerk, L. L. Parch; treasurer, W. G. Locke; assessor, E R 
Lower; justice of the peace, J. H. Scroggie; constable, E. N. Taylor. 

Olmsted furnished a large quota of soldiers in the Civil war and has 
kept alive a Grand Army Post until a few years ago, when from the 
limited number left it was disbanded. We have not given in these 
chapters much in regard to the service in the Spanish-American and 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


167 


World wars, as that will be given in a general chapter in connection with 
the military history of the City of Cleveland and the county entire. 

One of the beauty spots of Olmsted is Turkey Foot Grove on the banks 
of Rocky River. This has never been made a public park and is owned 
by the heirs of Davis Lewis. The Metropolitan Park Board, which has 
been acquiring property under a most comprehensive plan, which embraces 
a county boulevard system touching the finest natural scenery acquired 
for public parks, may some day include this in its holdings. 


CHAPTER XV 


ROCKPORT 

“History is the unfinished drama of which our lives are a part. We 
cannot understand ourselves except we have some knowledge of history.” 

*********** 

“History is a story of everybody in the past for everybody in the pres¬ 
ent, it concerns everybody equally, though it may concern different people 
at different angles.” 

H. G. Wells. 

As the founders of Ohio City dreamed of a great lakeport city at the 
mouth of the old river bed, so the settlers of Rockport looked forward to 
the founding of a great city at the mouth of Rocky River. The first has 
come true but not just in the way or under the name emblasoned in their 
dream, and the second is going forward, but not just in the place they 
thought of. At least it is true that the settlers cleared the forest for a 
most enlightened and progressive city, second to none in civic pride and 
advancement, Lakewood. They did not foresee the railroad that has 
changed the tide of affairs and made the inland town a possibility. 

In the survey of the Western Reserve, Rockport was number 7 of range 
14, located in the north part on the lake. It contains twenty-one full sections 
of a mile square each and four fractional sections, due to the changing 
line of the lake shore on the north. It has Dover on the west side, Middle- 
burg on the south, Cleveland, but originally Brooklyn, on the east, and 
Lake Erie washes its northern boundary line. It is generally level and of 
good soil and that along the lake, like Dover, particularly well adapted to 
the raising of fruit. In the early annals it is referred to as inhabited by 
thrifty, intelligent and prosperous farmers. Detroit street is described as 
a fine avenue of fine residences, extending from Cleveland to Rocky River, 
which river is heavily wooded by a dense forest about its mouth. 

The old annals of Rockport kept by Henry Alger, one of first white 
settlers, who came in 1812, gives John Harbertson, or Harberson, an Irish 
refugee, as the first white settler in the township. Harbertson, with his 
family came in 1809 and took up land on the east side of the river near 
its mouth. Apparently he was not the first, for Philo Taylor, who came 
from New York to Cleveland in 1806, and there met Harmon Canfield 
and Elisha Whittlesey, agents and owners of land in Rockport, and upon 
verbal agreement with them as to land in the township, near the mouth of 
Rocky River, took possession of the same in 1808. He journeyed with his 
family in an open boat from Cleveland and on the 10th of April of that 
year entered the mouth of Rocky River and made a landing. He built a 
log cabin on the east side of the river opposite what was later known as 
the Patchen House. He cleared land and in a year’s time had made great 
changes. He was working enthusiastically when Mr. Canfield, with whom 
the verbal agreement for purchase had been made, informed him that he 
must select another location for a farm, as the owners had decided to lay 
out a town at the mouth of the river and this land would be included in the 
town. Taylor was very angry at this turn of affairs and decided to shake 

168 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


169 


the dust of number 7 range 14 from his feet altogether. He sold out his 
improvements to Daniel Miner “launched a curse at the mouth of Rocky 
River and moved to Dover. Thus he was only a short time resident but 
was in reality the first settler. The same year that Harbertson came, 1808, 
William Conley, who came with him from Ireland, settled in the township. 
Conley located on what was later called Van Scoter Bottoms. Neither 
Harbertson nor Conley stayed long in the township as both moved away in 
1810, so that the honors of first settlers could not be conferred on them 
because of permanent residence. 

Until 1809 there was no highway between Cleveland and the Huron 
River, it was an unbroken wilderness. The Legislature that year made an 
appropriation to build a road from Cleveland west to that river and ap¬ 
pointed Ebenezer Merry, Nathaniel Doan and Lorenzo Carter, to superin¬ 
tend the construction. This Legislature met in Chillicothe on December 
4, 1809. It was however in 1810, the year Cuyahoga County was formed 
and which included in its boundaries all of the Huron County of today, that 
this road legislation was passed. It is interesting to note some of the pro¬ 
ceedings of this legislature. The marriage laws were amended so as to 
require fifteen days public written notice of an intended marriage, under 
the seal of a justice of the peace, to be posted in the most public place in 
the township, which was the residence of the woman. The license fee was 
fixed at seventy-five cents. A law was passed authorizing a lottery for the 
purpose of raising money to erect a bridge across the Miami River, as well 
as similar public improvements elsewhere. The salary of members of the 
Legislature was fixed at $2 per day. Augustus Gilbert, Nathan Perry and 
Timothy Doan were chosen Common Pleas judges for the court of 
Cuyahoga County. The salary of the judges is not given in the annals but 
the presiding judges of this court received $900 per year. This road 
authorized by this Legislature crossed the Rocky River near its mouth and 
was the only one west of the Cuyahoga River until 1814 or 1815. 

Daniel Miner bought out Philo Taylor’s loose property and improve¬ 
ments and moved into the log house Taylor built. He came from Homer, 
New York. Just what relation he had to Granger City for that was to be 
the name of the town at the mouth of the river, but which was only built 
on paper, we do not know. In 1812 he began the construction of a mill 
on what was afterwards called “mill lot” but died before it was completed. 
That was in 1813. From 1811 Miner had kept a tavern and operated a 
ferry on the river. In 1812 he bought out Harbertson, who was located 
on the same side of the river and kept tavern in the old Harbertson 
house. In 1809 or 1810 the state highway was completed from Cleveland 
to Rocky River. The first settler to drive over the new roadway was 
George Peake, a mulatto. He, with his family, made the first drive over 
this highway in a wagon and located in Rockport on a farm in later years 
owned by John Barnum. Peake had been a soldier in the British army and 
was under Wolf at the taking of Quebec. After leaving the army he 
moved to Maryland and married a white woman, who was reputed to be 
wealthy. After his marriage he moved with his wife to Pennsylvania 
where they raised a family of children and when he came to Rockport, 
they had two grown sons with them, George and Joseph Peake. Two 
other sons followed soon after, James and Henry Peake. The Peakes 
brought with them a hand gristmill, which was a great improvement over 
the stump mortar and spring pole pestle that they found in the wilds. 
Family relationships cut a great deal of figure in the development of these 
new communities. In 1811, Dr. John Turner, a brother-in-law of Daniel 
Miner, came to the township from New York and located on a farm. 
This proved to be an unfortunate enterprise for the Turners. Two years 


170 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


after their arrival, when the doctor and his wife were away, their log 
house was burned to the ground and their two children perished in the 
flames. Soon after this tragedy, the family, to get away from the imme¬ 
diate reminder of their loss, sold out and moved to Dover. This farm was 
afterwards the property of Governor Reuben Wood. 

While the "turners lived in Rockport the new comers were Jeremiah 
Van Scoter, John Pitts, Datus Kelly, and Chester Dean. The Van 
Scoters on the river bottoms, which afterwards bore their name. Van 
Scoter was a resident long enough to give a name to Van Scoter Bottoms 
and then moved away. Mr. Kelly occupied the place afterwards owned 
by George Merwin. Into this new country came men of far sighted vision. 
In the rather dramatic discovery of Berea grit and the development of the 
stone industry by John Baldwin in Middleburg, we have given an illustra¬ 
tion. In the character of Datus Kelly we find another, who saw into the 
future as did John Baldwin. Datus Kelly had prospected about an island 
in Lake Erie and found it formed of limestone of a superior quality and 
in 1834 he and his brother Irad bought it for a very nominal sum. This 
island has ever since borne the name of Kelly’s Island and the outcome 
of the limestone quarries has been enormous. Like the rest the peopling of 
the township began by little settlements in various parts. Sometimes one 
large family would constitute a settlement. In June, 1812, Nathan Alger, 
with his wife and sons, Henry, Herman, Nathan, Jr., and Thaddeus P., 
came from Litchfield County, Connecticut, and settled on sections 12 and 
13. Two days later, lead by that afflatus, that has drawn men even beyond 
the prospect of material gain, Benjamin Robinson came also. His pioneer 
experience began with the fulfillment of his fond hopes, for he married the 
daughter of Nathan Alger and took up a farm and founded a home. This 
location was at once named the Alger Settlement. Nathan Alger, the head 
of this little colony in the wilds of Rockport, only lived a year after coming 
to the township, dying in 1813. This was the first death in the township. 
We should also mention as coming to the Alger Settlement in 1812, Dyer 
Nichols and Horace B. Alger. In 1814 Samuel Dean settled in the town¬ 
ship with his wife and two sons, Joseph and Aaron. This settler remained 
in the old home until his death in 1840 at the age of eighty-five years. 
Another son, Chester Dean, a pioneer, died in 1856. It seemed rather 
necessary in subduing the wilderness and its wild inhabitants, that the 
pioneers found, that some should not be altogether devoted to clearing 
and tilling the soil, or even to starting the necessary first industries. The 
roving life of the hunter and trapper brought a modicum, at least, of the 
family food supply and thinned the woods of the dangers that infested 
them. Now Benjamin Robinson, of whom we have spoken as a member 
of the Alger Settlement, was more given to a roving life than to the indus¬ 
try that the pioneers looked upon as their greatest virtue. He was a great 
hunter, he prided himself on his Indian habits, he lacked the thrift of 
others about him. In later life he became industrious but it was too late 
as he died in poverty. Henry Alger, a married son of Nathan, who came 
early to the township, has left a sketch of his pioneer experience in which 
he gives interesting details. He relates that when they came in June, 1812, 
he had only an old watch, an ax, some shoemaker’s tools and shop’furni¬ 
ture, a bed, and seven cents in cash. He had borrowed ten dollars to pav 
his way to Rockport and felt that he must immediately get to work. He 
put up a log cabin, requiring no cash in that direction. This was furnished 
with a “Catamount” bedstead, a shoemaker’s bench, and two stools. With 
this he and his wife commenced housekeeping. The only kitchen ware 
they had was a broken iron tea kettle, which young Alger found on the 
lake beach. In that fall he went to a farm thirty miles east of Painesville 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


171 


and threshed wheat for Ebenezer Merry, getting in payment every tenth 
bushel. This work was done with the flail and the hand winnow. In 1813, 
he went to Cleveland for salt. We have referred to the scarcity and high 
price of that necessity in pioneer days. For fifty-six pounds he worked 
nine days for S. S. Baldwin and then carried it home on his back, walking 
the entire distance. It was probably true of all pioneers but it can truly 
be said of this one that he “earned his salt.” With the same currency Mr. 
Alger bought flour for the family. For one hundred pounds of flour he 
chopped down an acre of timber for Captain Hoadley, of Columbia and 
carried that home, as he did the salt from Cleveland, a distance of ten miles. 

This little glimpse of the hardships of pioneer life will show also of 
what stuff the builders of the civilization of the new communities were 
made. Mingled with this hard toil at the first there was a romance and 
a glamor that appealed to many. 

“We will give the names of our fearless race 
To each bright river whose course we trace; 

We will leave our memory with mounts and floods, 

And the path of our daring, in boundless woods; 

And our works on many a lake’s green shore, 

Where the Indians’ graves lay alone, before. 

All, all our own, shall the forests be, 

As to the bound of the roe-buck free! 

None shall say, ‘Hither, no further pass.’ 

We will track each step through the deep morass; 

We will chase the deer in his speed and might, 

And bring proud spoils to the hearth at night. 

We will rear new homes under trees that glow 
As if gems were the fruitage of every bough; 

O’er our log walls we will train the vine, 

And sit in its shadow at day’s decline; 

And watch our herds as they range at will, 

And hark to the drone of the busy mill.” 

Rufus Wright, a soldier of the War of 1812, came from Stillwater, 
New York, in 1816. He bought three quarters of an acre of land on the 
west side of Rocky River near its mouth, of Gideon Granger, for which 
he paid $300. This astonishing price for so small a tract of land at that 
period of this history is accounted for. He was locating in the heart of a 
great city of the future as he supposed. Gideon Granger figures in many 
parts of the Western Reserve as an original purchaser. This was to be 
the climax of his western adventures. Granger City, at the mouth of 
Rocky River was to be one of the great ports of Lake Erie. He had 
enlisted in the enterprise a number of influential men. Joseph Larwill, of 
Wooster, Ohio, came and bought a mill lot on the east side of the river 
in 1815, and a tract of land across on the west side, near its mouth. Here, 
with Gideon Granger, John Beyer and Calvin Pease, he laid out with an 
elaborate survey, Granger City. The sale of lots was widely advertised 
for a particular day and when that day arrived, a large crowd was in 
attendance and the excitement ran high. It is recorded that lots, in those 
days of financial limitations, were sold as high as $60 each, Larwill and 
Company saw a fortune in their mind’s eye. The building of the city 
began. The first cabin was built by Charles Miles in the year of the sale, 
1815. The next year John Dowling, George Reynolds and Captain Foster 


172 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


built on city lots. The city did not materialize very rapidly and Miles sold 
out to John James, from Boston, Massachusetts, and located on a farm, 
which farm of productive excellence was afterwards the property of Gov¬ 
ernor Reuben Wood. Others held on to the upbuilding of Granger 
City. John James opened a store and tavern, resolved to stay 
“till death do us part,” which he did for he remained there until his 
death. Rufus Wright, the first comer, built a tavern. Among those who 
came in 1816 were Asahel Porter, Eleazer Waterman, Josephus B. 
Lizer and Henry Canfield. Canfield came from Trumbull County, the 
home of his father, who had bought much land in Rockport. He built and 
opened a store. One day a lady came to the store, who was visiting a 
sister in the neighborhood. She was a dashing, attractive girl, had ridden 
on horseback from Connecticut to Royalton, Ohio. It was a case of love 
at first sight. The lure of Granger City was wiped out and Canfield 
married and moved onto a Rockport farm. The old building was after¬ 
wards known as Canfield’s old store. He lived for a time with his bride 
on the Rockport farm and then they moved back to Trumbull County. 
Granger City must have an industrial growth and in 1817 one Fluke, a 
German potter, came from Wooster and began making earthenware. 
Shortly after Henry Clark came to the city and opened another tavern. 
A man by the name of Scott came from Painesville and formed a partner¬ 
ship with Larwill in the building of a mill on Rocky River. They had 
gotten up the frame of a dam when winter set in. In the spring the 
floods swept everything away, and Larwill abandoned the Granger City 
idea in disgust. The city struggled along for a while but was soon 
abandoned, leaving only a few scattered, deserted cabins. Rufus Wright 
built a frame tavern of considerable size, but this was not dependent 
upon Granger City for its patronage. This was operated by the Wright 
family for some time, from 1816 till 1853, when it was sold to Silver- 
thorn. It was then remodeled and enlarged, but some of the old building 
was preserved in the structure. A part of the old building was moved 
away and known as the Patchen House, or it may be that this was used as 
a residence and that the tavern south of the Patchen House, kept by the 
widow of John Williams, was confused with this. Wright built half of 
a bridge across the river at this point and also operated a ferry. He 
helped to cut the first road west of the river. We have gone ahead a 
little in our settlement chronology in giving the history of Granger City. 
In 1812, when Wright came, Henry Clark, John James, Charles Miles 
and Joseph Sizer arrived. Clark and James kept tavern on the west 
side of the river. The first tavern opened, however, was by Daniel Miner, 
the license for the same being issued by the Court of Common Pleas, 
in March, 1811, and renewed, as shown by the records, in 1812. Miner’s 
tavern was a log cabin 18 by 24 feet on the east side of the river. After 
Miner died, Moses Eldred ran the place for a short time and then it 
was operated by his widow. Joseph Dean and his son, Samuel, who 
settled in the township in 1814, built the first tannery in the township 
on north ridge. This later was in the possession of Lucius Dean. Joseph 
Larwill, who came in 1815, who was the active founder of Granger City, 
built a mill when the city was in progress, but this burned before it was 
ever used. It is a singular fatality that a mill built on the same site by 
Erastus and Charles Johnson was also burned to the ground. In 1817 
Datus Kelly built a sawmill in section 16 on a creek that crosses north 
ridge. In 1818 James Nicholas came to Rockport. At the age of twenty 
he traveled, in 1803, from Barnstable County, Connecticut, to Trumbull 
County, Ohio, making the trip on foot. After a stay of fifteen years 
there, during which time he had surrounded himself with a familv, he 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


173 


moved to Rockport. He had purchased 270 acres of land in the town¬ 
ship. On this he put up a log cabin, this being at that date the only 
house between the settlements on the Rocky and the Cuyahoga rivers. In 
after years, a son, Ezra, lived in a frame house built on the site west 
of the log house that his father built, which was opened as a tavern by 
Ezra. A daughter became Mrs. Elias Paddock of Olmsted. Mars 
Wagar with his wife, Katura, came from Ontario County, New York. 
They came to Cleveland in 1818 and to Rockport in 1820. Here he 
had bought 160 acres of land, in section 22, of Francis Granger, son 
of Gideon Granger. Mars died in 1841, leaving the widow, Katura, and 
several children, among them Adam M. Wagar and Israel D. Wagar. 
This family was not interested so much in western as in eastern Rockport. 

In 1819 Elial Farr, a surveyor from Pennsylvania, with his wife and 
family, including three sons, Aurelius, Elial, Jr., and Algernon, settled 
on section 16. Price French left Ontario County, New York in 1818 and 
moved to Indiana, then in 1828, with wife and six children moved to 
Rockport. He bought a part of the James Nicholas farm, or rather the 
farm on which Nicholas later lived, and then moved to a farm afterwards 
occupied by A. G. French, a descendant. David Harrington came from 
Otsego, New York, in 1821, to Middleburg, and in 1822 moved to Rock¬ 
port. After his death the place was managed by the widow or owned by 
her. William and Mary Jordan came in 1827 and located on the Dover 
plank road. Jonathan Parshall came in 1821 and bought an acre of 
ground of Mars Wagar and built a log cabin close to Wagar’s. He 
was a house carpenter and taught school some, but was not a thrifty 
citizen. In the pioneer mind he was downright lazy. He neglected the 
acre of ground and neglected to pay for it, so that Mr. Wagar got it 
back eventually. Parshall is among the early settlers of the township 
and came the year of the first election for township officers. The first 
white child born in the township was Egbert, son of Philo Taylor. 
Egbert was born in November of 1809. Addison, a son of Datus Kelly, 
was born in June, 1812, and Philana, daughter of Henry Alger, was 
born in December of that year. The first marriage was that of Benjamin 
Robinson and Amelia Alger. These were Rockport settlers, but the 
wedding was held in Cleveland and the official knot was tied by George 
Wallace, Esq. Squire Wallace came out to Rockport to tie the next 
knot for the settlers. The second wedding was that of Chester Dean 
of Rockport to Lucy Smith of Dover. The wedding was held at the 
house of Datus Kelly. Visitors came for miles around on ox sleds. This 
was in January, 1814. This wedding is down in the annals as one of 
the red letter events, with lots of fun making and a wedding feast of 
noteworthy viands. It also added to the popularity of Squire George 
Wallace of Cleveland, as a marrying justice. The first justice of the 
peace in Rockport was Charles Miles. He was elected June 24, 1819. At 
this election only thirteen votes were cast. 

As at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, the Indians used to come in great 
numbers at the mouth of the Rocky River, and there leave their canoes 
while they were fishing and hunting. They buried their dead on an 
island in the mouth of the river, and would build fires at the head of each 
grave on their return. The Indians here mostly joined Tecumseh when 
the War of 1812 broke out. They had been friendly to the whites before 
the war, but they were practically all gone when the great bear hunt 
was organized in 1820. This was on the plan of the Hinckley hunt, men¬ 
tioned in a former chapter. Joseph Dean was in command and the line 
extended from Rocky River to Black River and a small army of hunters 
took part. They got a few bear, many deer, but the big thing was the 


174 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


celebration at the close of the hunt when hilarity under the auspices of 
John Barleycorn held full sway. Whiskey drinking was quite universal 
at that time and there was only occasionally an advocate of temperance, 
much less total abstinence. Datus Kelly at a township meeting in 1827 
occasioned much surprise and remonstrance by circulating a temperance 
pledge for signatures. Kelly was in a very small minority, but he kept 
on and steadily gained supporters for his side. At the first general 
election in Rockport for township officers the vote was small. Only nine¬ 
teen voters lived in the township and there were eighteen offices to fill. 
Of course this situation obtained in the early organization of the town¬ 
ships generally. Some men held a number of offices. After the first 
election in Rockport Township it was remarked that every man in the 
township either held an office, kept tavern or owned a sawmill. The 
first bridge over Rocky River was near its mouth. This was built by 
subscription and not by a lottery, as at one time authorized for bridging 
the Miami. Of this first bridge Rufus Wright paid about half of the 
expense. This was in 1821 and there was a great gathering to celebrate 
the completion of the bridge. Captain Wright invited all hands to his 
tavern and there was free liquor and the loving cup was the whiskey jug. 
This meeting was at the bridge raising. Captain Wright became so 
enthusiastic and elated over the bridge that he danced a jig on the top of a 
table, while those otherwise at liberty cheered him on and sang “Yankee 
Doodle” in place of an orchestra. Philo Taylor dared the storms of 
Lake Erie and used to go to mill in an open rowboat as far as the Raisin 
River in Michigan, until nearer gristmills came. The evolution was from 
the spring pole and stump pestle to the handmill, to the gristmill with its 
overshot wheel, where the settlers could come without money and with¬ 
out price, the miller taking toll from the grist left to be ground. As early 
as 1810 there was a mail route through Rockport from Cleveland to 
to Detroit. This was first operated by three men on foot, as a relay 
route, back and forth. It was, of course, a very small mail and carried 
like a field dispatch from one man to the second and by the second to 
the third and so on. In return, the same. The first postmaster in Rock¬ 
port was a Mr. Goodwin, who kept a postoffice in 1827 at Rocky River 
on the old stage route. Then Calvin Giddings was appointed and in 
1829 the mail route was a mile and a half above the river mouth over 
what was called Hog Back Hill. Apparently Goodwin was postmaster 
here when Giddings was appointed, having his office on the east side of 
the river. When Giddings took hold he moved the office across the 
river. In 1834 Rufus Wright was keeping tavern at the river mouth, 
with just the fading twilight of Granger City before him, when he was 
appointed postmaster and the office was again back there. Here in his 
tavern it was kept until 1852. Three sons of Rufus were postmasters 
in the old hotel or tavern, in turn, Abraham Wright, Philip Wright and 
Frederick Wright. In 1852 the office was moved a mile up the river, 
where it was kept for a year by Herman Bamum and then Benjamin 
Phinney, who kept a store, was appointed. He was postmaster until 
1864 and then the office was taken back to the mouth of the river and 
John Williams was postmaster for about a year. In the meantime Ben 
Phinney, Jr., was serving in the Union Army. John Williams surrendered 
the postmastership to Andrew Kyle, who moved the office to his house 
about two miles up the river. Here it remained until 1875, when it was 
taken back to Benjamin Phinney’s store. We are now reaching the 
period of larger development when the township is giving place to 
cities and villages within its border. In 1877 a new postoffice was estab¬ 
lished at the Cliff House on Rocky River, with William Hall as post- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


175 


master. He was followed by A. T. Van Tassel and he by James Stark¬ 
weather. Horace Dean was the first postmaster at East Rockport. Then 
in turn were O. W. Hotchkiss, William B. Smith, Jacob Tegardine, Adam 
Wagar and Joseph Howe, who served in the ’80s. 

The organization of the township was perfected in the town meeting 
style imported from New England. The county commissioners had erected 
the township in 1819. There is nothing in the annals in regard to 
the selection of the name. That may have been by common consent 
selected when the commissioners took action. The election was held 
in Rufus Wright’s tavern in April, 1820. There were nineteen voters 
present. It will be interesting to give the names of those who voted. 
The voters at this first election were: Rufus Wright, Asahel Porter, 
Henry Canfield, Samuel Dean, Joseph Dean, Chester Dean, Dyer Nichols, 
Daniel Bardin, John Kidney, John Pitts, John James, Charles Miles, 
Erastus Johnson, Charles Johnson, Josephus B. Sizer, Datus Kelly, James 
Nicholson, Benjamin Robinson and Henry Alger. The chairman of 
the meeting was Charles Miles. The judges of election were Asahel 
Porter and Datus Kelly. The following were elected as the first officers 
of Rockport Township: Trustees, Henry Alger, Rufus Wright and 
Erastus Johnson; clerk, Henry Canfield; overseers of the poor, James 
Nicholson and Samuel Dean; fence viewers, Benjamin Robinson and 
Joseph Dean; lister, Joseph Dean. Now among those who have served 
the township in public office for the first fifty and more years are familiar 
family names and a perusal of the partial list seems to tie the present 
with pioneer days. Trustees, Dyer Nichols, Jared Hickox, Charles Warner, 
Alanson Swan, John B. Robertson, Paul B. Burch, James S. Anthony, 
James Stranahan, Collins French, Henry Alger, Joseph Dean, Epaphrodi- 
tus Wells, Benjamin Mastic, Joel Deming, Guilson Morgan, Obadiah 
Munn, Israel Kidney, Elial Farr, Jonathan Plimpton, Asia Pease, J. D. 
Gleason, P. G. Burch, W. D. Bell, John P. Spencer, Chauncey Deming, 
Aurelius Farr, Benjamin Stetson, Joseph Leese, Q. W. Hotchkiss, Han¬ 
ford Conger, Benjamin Mastick, Royal Millard, William B. Smith, Thomas 
Hurd, John West, John Freeborn, Frederick Wright, Ezra Bassett, 
A. Cleveland, J. F. Storey, James Potter, George Beltz, A. Kyle, William 
Jordan, Thomas Morton, William Tender, Calvin Pease, F. G. Bronson, 
F. Colbrunn, A. M. Wagar, Allen Armstrong, Alfred French, Anthony 
Cline, Lewis Nicholson, John Gahan, George W. Andrews, G. T. Pease, 
Fred Baker, L. A. Palmer and George Fauchter. Of the township 
clerks many served for long terms and the list is shorter. Clerks, Dyer 
Eaton, George T. Barnum, Isaac P. Lathrop, Timothy S. Brewster, A. S. 
Lewis, Aaron Merchant, Theopolis Crosby, Royal Millard, John Barnum, 
Lucius Dean, A. M. Wagar, Edwin Giddings, Robert Fleury, Andrew 
Kyle, O. P. Stafford, H. A. Mastick, Edwin Giddings and E. P. Thomp¬ 
son. Of the treasurers there are no records of defalcations and William 
Sixt, Ben. F. Phinney and others served long terms, being repeatedly 
reelected. Treasurers, Calvin Giddings, Ira Cunningham, Solomon Pease, 
R. Millard, Joseph D. Taylor, Benjamin Lowell, F. G. Lewis, Truman S. 
Wood, Isaac Higby, Lewis Rockwell, Horace Dean, O. W. Hotchkiss, 
William Sixt and Ben. F. Phinney. Of the trustees, John P. Spencer 
was an ensign in the militia of New York State before coming to Ohio, 
appointed by President Van Buren. His father, Jonathan Spencer, was 
born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, in 1778. He was a tanner, cur¬ 
rier and shoemaker. After his marriage to Mollie Jones, of the same 
town, he bought a farm in Brookfield, New York, and moved there in 
1803’ He brought his family to Olmsted falls in 1834. John P. Spencer 
was the second son of a family of eight children. In 1830 he bought 


176 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


125 acres of land in the south part of Rockport. Two years later he 
married Electa M. Beach, and he always gave her great credit for his 
business success. He added to his farm until he had a large estate. His 
wife was born in Connecticut and brought with her into the western 
wild the thrift attributed to natives of that New England state. They 
had a family of five, John W., Henry B., Mary R., Hannah L. and one 
other, John W., who was a soldier in the War of the Rebellion. The 
Wagar family are identified with the early history of Rockport most 
intimately. Mars Wagar and Katura, his wife, were dominant figures. 
Mars was born in Saratoga, New York, in 1791. He had an academic 
education. He studied at Lansingburg and Troy academies. In 1813 
he married Katura, who was the daughter of Adam and Anna Miller of 
Ontario, New York. Two years after marriage they came west and 
in 1820 arrived in Rockport. Israel D. Wagar was the second son. 
He was not given the educational opportunities that his father enjoyed, 
graduating from the district school. He taught school in the West and 
South, after devoting his early life to clearing land. After his teach¬ 
ing experience he came back to Rockport and engaged in farming 
and fruit growing. He is more widely known by his later occupation 
of buying and selling real estate. In 1843 he married Isabella Pike 
and they raised a family of eight children. In 1876 Mr. Wagar traveled 
abroad for pleasure and larger information. 

Another family quite well known in connection with the township 
life of Rockport was that whose head, on the banks of Rocky River, was 
Benjamin Phinney. He was a merchant (storekeeper) all his life. He 
began this business in Dover. He was born in Massachusetts in 1805 
and was brought to • Dover by his father, Sylvanus Phinney, with the 
family in 1813. Sylvanus Phinney was a tanner and carried on that 
business thirty-nine years in Dover. Coming to Rockport, Benjamin 
Phinney immediately engaged in the merchantile business and continued 
until 1865. The Phinney family, as you trace back to the earlier genera¬ 
tions in the British Isles, were merchants as a rule. Benjamin Phinney 
was a member of a militia company in the early days, but was never 
called into active service. His son, Benjamin F. Phinney, became well 
known in the county and served, as we have said, in township offices. 
He was born in Avon, Lorain County, August 3, 1845. Attended com¬ 
mon schools and studied a year at Berea College. Either the love of 
adventure or patriotism, or a combination of these two, prompted him 
at the age of seventeen to quit his books for his country’s service. With 
a cousin of the same age, he stole away at night to Ridgeville Center, 
where a company was being organized, and without his father’s consent 
enlisted. This was in 1861. This company was assigned to the Forty- 
second Ohio, under the command of Col. James A. Garfield. He had a 
most active war experience. When this regiment was made a part of 
Sherman’s army and were headed for Vicksburg, in an engagement at 
the mouth of the Yazoo, he was struck by a shell and was reported 
killed in battle. He recovered and after a long convalescence, returned 
to the army. At the death of his father he kept the store in Rockport 
and was appointed postmaster. In 1881 he was elected county com¬ 
missioner and in 1884 he was reelected, his term expiring in 1887. In 
the following year he moved his family to Cleveland and made his home 
there. His latest public service was as a member of the Board of 
Equalization. 

Number 7, range 14, has had a diversity of political experience. 
Organized as the Township of Rockport it has grown hamlets, villages 
and cities, until the Township of Rockport is no more. Its territory 


THE* CITY OF CLEVELAND 


177 


at the present time is, first and foremost, the City of Lakewood, of 
which we will speak later, extending along the lake from Cleveland 
to Rocky River. Second in political importance and largest in area has 
been the City of West Park, which in 1823 was annexed to the City 
of Cleveland and is now a part thereof. From Lakewood wes t of Rocky 
River to the west line of the original township extends the Village of 
Rocky River, and west of the river and farther south in rather irregular 
outlines lies Fairview Village. .These four municipalities do not com¬ 
prise the entire territory of original Rockport Township, for of a por¬ 
tion of the territory has been formed Goldwood Township out of two 
separate tracts, not contiguous, the extreme southwestern corner and 
a tract north of the southern part of Fairview Village, bounded on the 
north by Rocky River Village. 

The religious expression of the township has been quite varied as 
well. A part of the pioneer life in close relationship to the schools were 
many forms of worship and organizations in conformity therewith. There 
was the Rockport Methodist Episcopal Church, Baptist Church, First 
Congregational Church, Free Will Baptist Church, Rocky River Christian 
Mission, Disciples Church, First New Jerusalem Church (Swedenborgian), 
Detroit Street “Bible Christians,” a Methodist Episcopal Church, Saint 
Patrick’s Church (Catholic), German Evangelican Church, German Metho¬ 
dist Church, Church of the Ascension (Episcopal), and Saint Mary’s 
Church (Catholic). In this diversity of creeds, as one of the horny 
handed farmers expressed it by illustration, there was one common 
ground. When the stumps in the clearings began to rot away and the 
ground became more easily tilled, the grain drill was invented and came 
into use slowly. There was much antagonism and differences of opinion 
as to the merits of this new method of seeding, many holding to the old 
way of sowing broadcast, others adopting the new method and using 
the grain drill. “Well,” said the old farmer, “we all agree to the idea 
of putting in a crop.” From the first settlement of Rockport the Meth¬ 
odists held class meetings in schoolhouses in irregular fashion until 1847, 
when, a church having been organized, a building was erected one and 
a half miles west of the mouth of Rocky River. William Jordan was 
class leader at that time, and the membership included Dyer Eaton, Mrs. 
Mary Jordan, Mr. Whiting, Mr. Bennett, Philena Alger, Sarah Doty, 
Polly Jordan and Sally Usher. The church was organized in William 
Jordan’s log house. The first preacher was Rev. O. Sheldon. We hear 
much of him, from his unsuccessful efforts to found a colony in Middle- 
burg Township, on the basis of Christian socialism, he seemed always an 
active worker and a figure to stand out in the early history of this part 
of the county. When the church was built the trustees were: John D. 
Taylor, John Barnes, Henry Rauch, Benjamin Lowell and Sidney Lowell. 
In the ’70s C. S. Giddings was class leader; Rev. John McKean, pastor, 
and the trustees were S. H. Brown, Mark Able, C. S. Giddings, F. Mc¬ 
Mahon, Ira Burlingame, C. N. Wise and Charles Cuddeback. The Bap¬ 
tist Church organized May 27, 1832, with the following members: Gideon 
Watrous, Royal Millard, John Dike, Fanny Watrous, Amelia Robinson, 
Sarah Herrington, Anna Millard, Lydia Pike and. Fanny „M. Nicholas. 
Six years and harmony was not spelled with a capital “H.” A division 
occurred on doctrinal differences. The dissenters withdrew and organized 
a church on the west side of the river and hired Rev. Moses Ware as a 
settled minister. This separate organization did not endure for long. In 
1842 the dissenters returned to the mother church. For some time after 
their return the church prospered. Many members were added and a 
commodious church called the Tabernacle was built. This was in 1846. 


178 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


In 1847, a year later, for what cause the annals do not disclose, meetings 
were abandoned, and in 1850 a few met in the Tabernacle and formally 
dissolved. The Tabernacle was given over to the free use of other 
religious denominations and was usually in use on Sundays. Groups 
of Baptists would occasionally gather, but the church was never re¬ 
organized. The First Congregational Church was organized as early 
as 1835, but no record is preserved of that period. It lapsed. In 1859 
it was reorganized with the following members: Benjamin Mastick, Rus¬ 
sell Hawkins, Lydia Hawkins, Louisa Trinket, Mary C. Kinney, Silas 
Gleason, Labrina Gleason and Anna and Susanna Kyle. The first dea¬ 
cons were Ezra Bassett and Silas Gleason, and the first pastor, Rev. 
N. Cobb. Other ministers in the early history have been Revs. J. B. 
Allen, E. T. Fowler, O. W. White, E. H. Votaw. In 1869 it left the 
Presbyterian Association, with which it had been connected, and joined 
the Ohio Congregational Association. A church building was erected 
in 1861. L. A. Palmer, William Andrews, A. Barter and B. Barter have 
served as officers of the early church. The Free Will Baptist Church 
was organized in 1840 and its original membership indicates that the 
families who constituted its roster were of the same mind and husband 
and wife were not divided. They were Obadiah Munn and wife, John 
Warren and wife, Jeremiah Gleason and wife, Joseph Coon and wife, 
Prosser Coon and wife, J. M. Plimpton and wife, Thomas Alexander 
and wife, Israel Kidney and wife, and Sarah and Joseph Hall. The 
first minister was Elder Reynolds. Following him after seven years 
of service were Elders Prentiss, Beebe and Pelton in their order. This 
church held services in schoolhouses until 1846, when a church building 
was built at Detroit Street and Hilliard Avenue. The church declined 
and in 1858 was dissolved. The building was afterwards used by various 
religious organizations, and then sold to F. Wagar who moved At to his 
farm for use as a farm building. 

The Rocky River Christian Mission, a Disciples Church, was organized 
in 1879 and a church built the previous year but not dedicated till the 
church was organized. The original members were James Cannon and 
wife, J. C. Cannon and wife, William Southern and wife, Joseph South¬ 
ern and wife, Peter Bower, Miss Ella Woodbury, Miss Lou Atwell. The 
first trustee was James Cannon and the first preacher, Elder J. C. Cannon. 
In the 70s there were some forty families represented in the church. 
The New Jerusalem Church (Swedenborgian) has an interesting history. 
Before 1841 a number of families of that faith had settled in Rockport, 
James Nicholson and Mars Wagar were the leading believers. They 
invited Reverend McCarr of Cincinnati to come to Rockport and form 
a church. He came September 4, 1841, and called a meeting in a school- 
house on Rocky River. Here and at that time a church was organized 
The first members were W. D. Bell and wife, Osborn Case, James 
Nicholson and wife, Israel D. Wagar and wife, Delia Paddock, A. M. 
Wagar, Baadicea and Diantha Thaver, James Newman, Jane E. Johnson 
Susanna Parshall, Mars Wagar and wife, James Coolahan and wife Asa 
Dickinson and wife, Richard Harper and wife, Matilda Wagar, Mary 
Berthong and John Berry. The first trustees were W. D. Bell,’ James 
Nicholson and L. D. Wagar. The first ordained minister was Rev. Rich¬ 
ard Hooper. Reverend Hooper had been a Methodist minister in Rock¬ 
port, attended a camp meeting of Swedenborgians and was suddenly con¬ 
verted to that faith, and was ordained at once. He was the pastor for 
four years. Following him were Revs. W. G. Day, L. P. Mercer 
D. Noble, John Saal and George L. Stearns in the order named. Their 
meetings were held in schoolhouses until 1848, then in other church 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


179 


buildings. In 1878 the church put up a building of their own. The 
trustees at this time were A. M. Wagar, Ezra Nicholson and Alfred 
French. Israel D. Wagar, a son of Mars and Katura, who was one 
of the first members of the church, gave this as his creed: “I believe 
that all men will in the end be saved, that the eternal purposes of the 
Almighty will never be thwarted or turned aside by his creatures; that 
‘He is good to all and His tender mercies are over all his works,’ that 
the human mind is so organized that it will yield to treatment, that the 
wicked by association, discipline and punishment, under the guidance of 
divine wisdom, will in the end be saved.” The religious experience of 
the two leading members of this church and their intense devotion to the 
cause, is shown by the fact that they, when first awakened to the call, 
drove with their wives in a two-horse lumber wagon all the way to 
Wooster to be baptised into the new faith. In 1850 a little band of 
“Bible Christians” met at frequent intervals for four or five years in 
the Free Will Baptist Church. It was called a class and Mark Tegarden 
was its leader. Rev. Richard Roach used to come out from Cleveland 
occasionally to preach to them. The United Brethren also met in the 
same building for occasional worship. After the “Bible Christians” stopped 
meeting, the Wesleyan Methodists formed a class and Mark Tegarden 
was its leader. They engaged Reverend Crooks as the first preacher. 
After a while the Wesleyan Methodists gave way to the Methodist Epis¬ 
copal denomination and a class was formed and still Mark Tegarden 
was the class leader. Their first pastor was Reverend Jewett of Berea. 
This organization was denominated the Detroit Street Methodist Episcopal 
Church and a building was erected in 1876, when Reverend McCaskie 
was pastor. Rev. William Warren followed him and the class leaders 
under Warren were Joseph Primat, John Webb, Stephen Hutchins and 
Mark Tegarden, and the trustees, Archibald Webb, James Bean, James 
Parsons and Peter Clampitt. Saint Patrick’s Church, an Irish Catholic 
organization, was formed in Rockport previous to 1862. A church was 
built and dedicated by Bishop Rappe with thirty families in the congrega¬ 
tion. The first priest was Rev. Lewis Filiere, who also preached, as we 
have said, in Berea and Olmsted Falls. He served ten years and then 
followed him in the order named: Reverend P'athers Miller, Ludwick, 
Hyland, Quigley, O’Brien and Kuhbler. In 1889 this church included 
in its congregation sixty families. 

The German Evangelical Church, of Rockport, was organized by 
Rev. Philip Stemple of Brighton. He came to the township on invita¬ 
tion in 1851. When organized the church included fifteen families. For 
as many years Reverend Stemple preached to the German Protestants 
of Rockport in a schoolhouse. In the meantime the church had a steady 
growth and in 1867 a fine brick structure was built costing in cash $8,000, 
and with much labor and material donated. The first pastor in the new 
church, considered a very fine one in those days, was Rev. Frank Schreck 
from Wisconsin, and the first trustees were Peter Reitz, William Mack 
and a Mr. Annacher. Others who have been on the board of trustees 
are Henry Brondes, Frederick Brunner and George Zimmer. As illus¬ 
trating the changes in population from the original New England settlers, 
besides the above, in 1847 the German Methodists organized a church 
and the following year built a church building. The first class leader of 
this organization was Valentine Gleb, and the first trustees, William 
Mack, John Mack and Henry Dryer. Among those who have served as 
preachers have been Revs. John Klein, Baldaff, Reicher, Berg, Weber, 
Detter, G. Nachtripp, Budenbaum, Heidmeyer, Snyder, Nuffer, Nast and 
Borgerdeng, among the trustees have been Valentine Gleb, who also served 


180 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


for many years as class leader, Jacob Knopf, Henry Dryer, Michael 
Neuchter and Bartlett Stocker. Saint Mary’s Church, a German Catholic 
organization, was perfected, and a frame building erected in 1854 with 
fourteen families. After its membership had more than doubled, a fine 
brick church was built. Father Kubler was for some time the officiating 
priest, and among the trustees have been George Betts, Jacob Ammers- 
bach and Mehurad Nicholas. We must mention one other church that 
seems to belong to the early history of Rockport and that is the Church 
of the Ascension, Episcopal. This, a chapel of Trinity Parish, Cleveland, 
was opened in 1875 and dedicated in 1879 by Bishop Bedell. It was 
opened with Rev. J. W. Brown of Trinity as its first rector and Charles 
P. Ranney of Cleveland as its first lay reader, and started with an attend¬ 
ance of fifty persons. 

The earliest schoolmaster of Rockport was Jonathan Parshall. He was 
not an educator of standing and even in the days of the first schools 
was behind the times. He was a carpenter and the original Mars Wagar 
said he did not deserve the name of school teacher. Mars ought to 
have known, for he saw much of him. He said he was not very intelligent 
and much less industrious. Perhaps Mr. Wagar was prejudiced, for 
this Parshall bought an acre of ground next to the Wagar house and 
never paid for it, although he built a log house there. Parshall thought 
himself qualified to teach and taught a few terms in the back part of 
Mr. Wagar’s house. These terms were inclined to be short, as his pupils 
inspired with other things than his teaching did not long continue. This 
self-inspired youth began teaching in 1829. In 1830 a log schoolhouse was 
built opposite the Ezra Nicholson home. The first teacher, and the first 
real teacher in the township, taught there. She was a lady from Olm¬ 
sted. As we have not her name we can only give credit to the Town¬ 
ship of Olmsted. Soon school buildings were built over Rockport in the 
various subdistricts. The log schoolhouses were replaced by brick in 
most instances. Out of eight schoolhouses built in the districts seven 
were built of brick, but poetically and really they were still “The Little 
Red Schoolhouse.” The reason for this may be explained. Rockport has 
been almost wholly a farming and fruit growing township. The only 
industries of note have been the two brick and tile works. William Maile 
on Detroit Street manufactured brick and tile quite early, and John W. 
Spencer in the west part of the township operated another brick and 
tile works, and very properly the authorities patronized home industry. 

The schools of Rockport have lead in the advancement of the various 
municipalities within the township. The cities of West Park and Rock¬ 
port have grown only with the growth and greater efficiency of the schools. 
Fairview Village schools absorb those of the Township of Gold wood. 
The present officers of the village are: Mayor, George B. Sweet; clerk, 
Ross P. Jordan; treasurer, Nick Gillis; assessor, Harvey Eaton; marshal, 
James Wescott; councilmen, A. G. Eggleston, E. M. Spencer, John Kaiser, 
F. L. Dyke, George Chittock and J. B. Lewis. The schools are in one 
large building and there are employed twelve teachers. The principal is 
Lewis F. Mayer. The enrollment of pupils is 285. Gold wood Township 
has officers as follows: Justice of the peace, Arthur H. Hill; constable, 
Thomas Sanford; trustees, Charles Anthony, William J. Thomson and 
John D. Rehberg; clerk, Walter H. Thomson; treasurer, John Wilker; 
assessor, Evan Heston. The schools, as we have said, are united with 
the Village of Fairview, and are under the general management of the 
County Board of Education and the County Superintendent. The officers 
of Rocky River Village, which has grown from a small hamlet in a 
few years to a populous village, as shown by the school enumeration, are: 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


181 


Mayor, Carl A. Stein; clerk, Frank Mitchell; treasurer, E. L. Stafford; 
assessors, A. E. Zuske; councilmen, W. M. Dean, J. O. Gordon, William 
Hutchinson, Warren S. Lovell, L. J. Zeager and Charles J. Zuska. The 
schools are housed in three separate buildings and are under the imme¬ 
diate supervision of C. C. Pierce. Twenty-four teachers are employed 
and the enrollment of pupils has reached this year 629. The officers of 
the City of West Park, which has this year been annexed to the City 
of Cleveland, and forms a ward of that great city, and whose offices 
are vacated by that procedure, were: Mayor, Henry S. Reitz; auditor, 
Fred Fenchter; treasurer, Fred Alber; assessors, ward 1, John Leonard; 
ward 2, George Cooper; ward 3, Louis Thomas; ward 4, Joseph Bashmer; 
councilmen, Everett J. Short, J. H. Hager, Peter J. Mueller, Albert Ehle, 
Charles E. Wallis, Charles C. Hahn, John Koellacher and J. A. Neubauer. 
The schools and other features of this portion of the original township 
will be treated, further on, as a part of the City of Cleveland, which is 
its present place in history. 


Lakewood 

Of Lakewood, the beautiful city of homes, the gem of the outgrowth 
on the soil of old Rockport, the fruition after some years of the labors 
of the first settlers, who laid the foundation, we cannot speak too highly. 
Its wonderful growth, in keeping with the growth of Greater Cleveland, 
of which it is a western border, is phenomenal. Its homes are all that 
the name implies. There is no seeming attempt to outdo one another, 
but everywhere neatness and variety and the attractive ornaments of trees 
and flowers, and well cut lawns. By the courtesy of Hon. Richard F. 
Edwards, of the Ohio House of Representatives, we are permitted to 
draw from his forthcoming book on “The Pioneers of Lakewood.” Mr. 
Edwards is a grandson of Doctor Fry, one of the early pioneers of 
Rockport, and lives at 1375 Fry Street in the City of Lakewood. He 
has been elected and reelected to the General Assembly and is serving 
as a member of the Finance Committee of the House. He has had large 
experience as a newspaper writer in New York City and elsewhere and 
has interviewed many men of national and international fame, yet he 
sees in the sturdy pioneers those enduring qualities, those original achieve¬ 
ments, which should be recorded for the present and future generations. 
His work on the finance committee of the House of Representatives has 
been marked by close application and carefully formed judgments rather 
than spectacular display. He is known as “The watch dog of the treasury.” 
He says in his introduction: “These sketches are of the earliest resi¬ 
dents of Lakewood, who settled in this district more than half a century 
before the World war. They are gathered all from first hand sources. 
There is material for many a romance in the early history of the present 
city of more than 50,000, in the stories of the Nicholsons, the Wagars, the 
French family, the Halls, the Kirtland and the Winchester families. The 
greatest of all the pioneers was the Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, but the fas¬ 
cinating side lights .on the career of this wonderful man could only be 
obtained from my Harvard classmate, Mars E. Wagar, and from 
J. C. Andrews and William Johnson. I looked with wonder through 
the pages of my encyclopedia that I found no mention of the man who 
originated all of the well known varieties of cherries. He was a famous 
horticulturist and a great doctor. His textbooks were used at Yale. He 
discovered that this lake district was especially adapted to grape culture, 
because the underlying shale strata retained the moisture needed for the 
growth and development of that delicious fruit.” Mr. Edwards speaks 


182 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


in his introduction of the French family and says: “The original mem¬ 
ber of the French family was Price French, a younger son of Lord French, 
who married the daughter of an Indian chief. His elder brother died and 
he was called home to assume the title left by his father, but refused, and 
on the outbreak of the War of 1812 he served in the army of his adopted 
country against the British. * * * The Calkinses and the Winchesters 

were of old Yankee stock and of distinguished lineage. The first Win¬ 
chester helped the slave, George Harris, immortalized in Mrs. Stowe’s 
‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’ to escape from his would-be captors, and was later 
haled before the court at Painesville.” Mr. Edwards concludes his intro¬ 
duction by saying: “We do not need to worship our ancestors, as do the 
Chinese, but it is well worth while to understand their ideals and methods 
and see to it that we do not slip, so far as the former are concerned. The 
reading of their deeds will do us good.” We will give enough of the 
sketches of Mr. Edwards to show their merit and historical interest and 
the necessity of preserving in permanent form that which would other¬ 
wise be lost. “Perhaps no descendant of Lakewood pioneers has a 
stronger claim to fame than the late Ezra Nicholson, son of James and 
Betsy Bartholomew Nicholson, who built the first permanent home in 
what is now Lakewood, 110 years ago on the site of the mansion of the 
late Robert Wallace, Detroit Street, opposite Waterbury Road. The 
fine allotment through the fruitful acres was in fact named after the 
Connecticut town where the pioneer wife was born, Chatham, Barnstable 
County, Massachusetts, the birthplace of James Nicholson, who was a 
minister’s son. For our splendid old Yankee citizen, who has now passed 
on to the ‘greatest adventure of life’ was what writers are pleased to call 
a man of vision, inheriting that sixth sense of looking afar into the 
future to some closed book, that led his father, when twenty-one years 
of age, to travel on foot from the Massachusetts home to the far off 
Western Reserve, which, not a decade before, was the home of the hostile 
Indian. The date was, in fact, but ten years after Mad Anthony Wayne 
had broken the power of the savages at ‘Fallen Timbers,’ sixty miles west 
of the Cuyahoga. At first James Nicholson settled in Ashtabula, where 
he bought a section of forest and began clearing for his future farm. 
Here he married and one day after he had lived here six years there 
came along a homesick traveler from the wilderness five miles west of 
the Cuyahoga River, who stopped to visit former friends. He offered 
to trade with Nicholson and give money to boot. The Ashtabula farm 
was improved and the other’s land was in what is now Lakewood. Our 
pioneer was a Yankee, and, as a matter of course, he must see the land. 
He walked to Cleveland to satisfy himself before he closed the deal. 
There wasn’t any better means of travel by which he could transport 
household goods and therefore he traveled the seventy-five miles with 
his bride to the new home, driving a yoke of oxen, and taking several 
more days than is now required for the express trains to span the con¬ 
tinent. When it was necessary to build a fire before the door at night 
to keep away the wolves and bears, the young husband was drafted into 
the army fighting against the British in the War of 1812, and left his 
wife alone in the wilderness for three months. While he was away a 
bear came and carried off the family pig squealing in its arms. The same 
bear was shot by the musket which Nicholson carried to the front. Nichol¬ 
son bought 160 acres more land out of the earnings of the original pur¬ 
chase. His holdings then extended from the west line of Cohasset Avenue 
allotment to the east line of what is now Elbur Avenue. On this estate 
there was never a mortgage. When he built the first home in 1812, the 
or y habitation between the Cuyahoga River and the Rocky River was a 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


183 


ferryman’s house on the west bank of the Cuyahoga River and another 
on the east bank of the Rocky River. Detroit Street was a crooked blazed 
trail through the woods. The second home was built on the hill on the 
west side of Nicholson Creek, where a fine residence now stands. It was 
fastened together by wooden pins, no nails, and in consequence swayed 
and creaked dreadfully when there was a heavy wind. Twenty-five 
years after the building of the log house the present homestead, opposite 
Nicholson Avenue, was erected in a chestnut grove, a former camping 
place for Indians, who often exchanged products of the chase for much 
prized salt. This homestead has been occupied since only by Nicholsons. 
Ezra Nicholson was then only two years old. This sketch would not be com¬ 
plete without a brief history of him. He was a man of ‘vision.’ If he 
had done nothing further than invent the ‘Nicholson Log,’ which is in 
universal use in the navy, his fame would be established. He was the 
first capitalist to see the importance of natural gas, an unknown agent 
fifty years ago. The first gas well in this part of the country was put 
down by Ezra Nicholson just south of Scenic Park, a gusher, more 
than half a century ago. Inability to pipe the product resulted in abandon¬ 
ment of this well, but, not discouraged, he bored another just west of the 
old homestead, which is in use today. Mr. Daly will take notice that our 
fine old neighbor put in pipes as far as Cove Avenue and told the neighbors 
to ‘hitch on’ free of cost. He organized the first rapid transit, the Rocky 
River Railroad, with the late Dan P. Rhodes and Elias Sims and was 
the first president. The old depot (McGuire’s then) still stands, the 
third house west of Fifty-eighth Street on the north side of Bridge 
Avenue. This was the eastern terminus. The railroad ran to the Cliff 
House, Rocky River, and the car fare was 20 cents. George Mulhem 
was the first conductor. Later Mr. Nicholson negotiated the right of 
way for the Nickel Plate Railroad, which bought the Rocky River Road. 
He was the first clerk of the Hamlet of Lakewood and served on the 
committee that selected the name. The permanent home of the sons 
is still in Lakewood. 

“It is a far cry from the present modern and model City of Lake- 
wood to 1789, when a hunter and trapper visited the then newly estab¬ 
lished City of Marietta, on the Ohio, and stated that he had traveled 
westward on the southern shore of Lake Erie as far as the River Cuya¬ 
hoga. He ventured the opinion that the location was a good one and 
would some day be the site of a great city. At the time of his visit to 
the new City of Marietta, the City of Lakewood was only inhabited by 
Indians. Right in the City of Lakewood today are a number of families 
whose histories are practically the history of the town before it became 
a municipality. One of the best known is the Wagar family, who at 
one time or another have owned at least one-fifth of the entire 3,600 
acres that constitute the area of the town. It was more than 100 years 
ago that the first Wagar came to Ohio from Lansingburgh, New York. 
He was Mars Wagar, a man learned in the classics and the mystery of 
surveying. In 1820 he purchased 111 acres of land in East Rockport, 
a mile and a half east of Rocky River. He paid $5 an acre for the 
homestead on which four generations have since lived and it is interest¬ 
ing to note that his grandson and namesake this year sold twenty acres of 
the interior of that farm with no street frontage for $95,000, or practically 
$5,000 an acre. Incidentally Mars E. Wagar told the writer that that 
property was assessed for taxes at the same value as the price of sale. 
The old abstracts show that the Wagar homestead was bought from the 
estate of Gideon Granger, who took his title direct from the Connecticut 
Land Companv. The Grant House property through which now runs 


184 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


the extension of Belle Avenue was sold to Israel Kidney, twelve acres in 
all, for $7 an acre. The original Wagar’s grandson, many years after, 
bought back two acres of the same for $14,000. The real price first 
paid for the twelve acres was a yoke of oxen. This was often told by 
Mrs. Katura Wagar, who long survived her husband. On this $84 estate 
was built the hotel, which after the Civil war was called the Grant House. 
This hotel stood on a steep hill and the hill was a favorite coasting place 
in winter. This hotel was the scene of many a wild revel and many are 
the stories told about it. One is of Innkeeper Bennett, who made a bet 
with a famous local* woodman that he could not saw five cords of wood 
in one day. Bennett lost his money. Another episode of the old days 
when John Barleycorn was still triumphant is related. It was decided 
to play a joke on one of the inebriated frequenters of the place. A 
ghost was fitted out to intercept the home-going frequenter on a gloomy 
boisterous night. The victim saw the ghost some distance away and 
provided himself with a rock. ‘Who are you?’ he asked. ‘I am the devil 
and have come after you/ was the reply. ‘Well, take this,’ said the much 
sobered man, whereupon the rock sped true and the ghost was knocked 
out. As a sequel to this story it is related that the doctor refused to 
patch up the injured ghost until his fee of 50 cents was paid. 

“If one should start to view critically the history of the pioneer 
Rockport family, the Winchesters, after which the avenue at the east 
end of Lakewood is named, one might say that it was a case of too fine 
eugenics, for father, mother, and nine children, half of the latter born 
in East Rockport, were known locally for their good looks, and more 
than one of their descendants was endowed with genius in art or litera¬ 
ture, or both, but not one reached success in those lines which had been 
so freely predicted for them. Nature demanded a let down of indiffer¬ 
ence to success for a generation of the family, whose ancestral line in¬ 
cluded clergymen, professors, college presidents and men of affairs. 
Philander Winchester, who staged a runaway marriage with Eliza Gill- 
man Calkins, daughter of a Lakewood pioneer, was the original Win¬ 
chester of this county. He settled in Lakewood in 1848. The old home¬ 
stead that stood at the southeast corner of what was later Spring Garden 
Avenue was torn down a couple of years ago. His father, Rev. Jonathan 
Winchester, was granted a license to preach and a charter from the 
Connecticut Land Company to build churches in the Western Reserve 
in 1797. Mr. Philip Winchester, the onlv one now living in Ohio of the 
seven surviving children, living at 1798 East 101st Street has the license 
carefully preserved. Mr. Winchester is an official of the Standard Oil 
Company. He is the youngest of the nine children. Philander Win- 
chester started his youth with the romance of a runaway marriage and 
his life was filled with drama, which did not include the results obtained 
by the worship of the dollar. In 1840 he managed the Painesville Tele- 
graph at a time when that town was expected to be greater than Cleve- 
land. The two towns were running ‘neck and neck’ in population. Later 
with L L Rice, he as business manager, piloted the paper, which was 
succeeded by the Cleveland Leader. But it was in the days of the ‘under¬ 
ground railway that the high points in the drama was reached. Famous 
were his exploits m aiding the escape of the four Clarks, Lewis and 
Walter the most famous. Lewis was the original of George Lfarris of 
Harriet Beecher Stowe s immortal ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin.’ Philip Win- 
Chester tells of the thrilling events connected with the work of his father 
as a leading conductor’ on the ‘underground railway,’ as he heard the 
story from his mother, of the many black boys from time to time hidden 
in the cellar of the Winchester home; how many a time going down into 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


185 


the dark cellar members of the family had stumbled upon trembling 
slaves hidden there during the day to be transported to the next station 
in the night time. On a day made historic, report came to the Winchester 
home that Walter Clark had been captured by two slave catchers, who 
were taking him back to the South. Mr. Winchester planned to surprise 
the southerners at a steep narrow piece of road, tip the hack over the bank 
and release the prisoner. It was known that Clark was seated between 



Dr. Jared P. Kirtland 

his captors and tied to them with a strong rope, and Mr. Winchester 
as planned slipped up unobserved and cut the ropes. In his excitement 
the first slash did not succeed and the next time he cut too deep and 
laid open the prisoner’s back with his knife. ‘It was wonderful, my 
father has told, me,’ said Philip Winchester, ‘that Clark never winced as 
the blood flowed and gave no sign to the two captors.’ The next thing 
that happened was the overturning of the coach in the dark. Clark ran 
to the buggy of Mr. Winchester and they drove away. The slave catchers 
released the horses and pursued them on horseback. In the meantime 
Mr. Winchester had changed coat and hat with Clark. The Clarks were 
the children of a wealthy planter by a beautiful quadroon girl and were 
of a lighter complexion even than Mr. Winchester. As the pursuers came 




186 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


in view Winchester, supposedly Clark, leaped from the buggy and made 
up the hill into a thick copse, while Clark drove hurriedly on, as the 
pursuers dismounted and followed Winchester. Winchester kept up the 
chase for hours, while Clark was being hurried to safety on his way to 
Canada. He finally allowed himself to be caught and not recognized by 
the slave catchers was put in the lockup at Painesville. In the morning 
he was brought into court and the judge remarked: ‘Why, there must 
be somp mistake, this is Mr. Philander Winchester, an old schoolmate of 
mine.’ He was released to the chagrin of the slave catchers and the delight 
of the citizens who were against the slave chasers. Mr. Winchester 
belonged to a generation of this splendid family, who believed in the pur¬ 
suit of ideals at any personal cost/’ 

“In old East Rockport there were a small select number, who stood 
out above the rest. Among them were Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, James 
Nicholson, Price French, Mars Wagar, Franklyn R. Elliott and Dr. 
Richard Fry. Doctor Kirtland easily stood first, and we believe today 
there is no one who could dispute that title with him. The old Kirtland 
homestead of indigenous narrow cleavage sandstone was built when he 
purchased the 200 acres extending from what is now Madison Avenue to 
the lake, bounded on the east by the Price French acres. This includes 
the entire present Kuntz estate. Bunts Road was the eastern boundary 
south of Detroit Avenue. The purchase was made in 1837. Several 
other pioneer homes were built of the same material as Dr. ICirtland’s. This 
mansion still stands on Detroit Avenue opposite the Elks’ Home, changed 
by stucco and porch additions but not improved in the eyes of old settlers. 
Doctor Kirtland was born at Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1793. His 
father, general agent for the Connecticut Land Company, intended to 
send him to Edinburgh University, Scotland, but the breaking out of the 
War of 1812 prevented and he sent him to Yale, where he graduated in 
the medical department. His life was devoted to the study of medicine 
and natural history, plant and animal life. He was a national authority 
on natural history, geology, etymology, pomology and horticulture, and was 
an intimate of Agassiz. He made discoveries of the parthenogenesis of 
silk worms and the fish fauna of the lakes. Twenty-six varieties of cher¬ 
ries were originated by him and half a dozen pears. He was an expert 
taxidermist and taught many of the sons and daughters of settlers the 
art just for the love of it. One of them for a long time had a sign in 
front of his house, ‘Bird Stuffer.’ That was before the pretty word taxi¬ 
dermist became popular. He also showed his neighbors how to make wax 
flowers, perfect imitations of plant life. He was the first and only presi¬ 
dent of the Cleveland Academy of Science, succeeded bv the Kirtland 
Society of Natural History, and, with Doctor Delamater, was the founder 
of Western Reserve Medical College, where he was a lecturer for twenty 
years. Doctor Kirtland in fact was the savant of Rockport, the grand old 
man of his day. He was six feet tall and a figure that would be noted 
anywhere. The older men of today remember the mane of white hair, 
the strong splendid face, aquiline nose, and the look of genius that marked 
him out from all others of that day. The children and young men looked 
up to him with something like awe. In his house was the most wonderful 
library in miles around, 6,000 volumes. Among them were the complete 
works and pictures of the great Audubon, worth at that time $400. He 
knew all the local birds and all about them. The demesne about his house 
was a veritable park, and the blooming magnolias, then unusual, were the 
wonder of all who passed. He could not bear to see a fine tree injured 
in any may. The present Mars Wagar said he never was so chagrined 
in his life as at a reproof from the old doctor. His mother had taken the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


187 


preacher and his family to board and, by the way, for 80 cents a week 
for eacn memuer, ana when tne uomime couia not pay in cnsn sne accepted 
his nag m payment. 1 he horse was uaiKy ana tippea Mars' iatnor into 
the ciecK once with a load ot watermelons, it r^niainea tor tne son to 
discover the way to manage the animal, He founa that by getting out of 
the wagon ana giving tne norse an awiul crack wmi anycniug ne cuuid nnd, 
the horse wouiu run away trunking he haa got ria oi me unver. ne aid 
not know that the ariver haa cnmoea in over the Dackuoara and was well 
satisnea as long as his sceed went in the ngnt direction. *une aay tne horse 
baikea in trout ot the Kirtiand house, tviars got out, ana seeing nothing 
else available, tore a branch trom a buckeye tree, just at that moment 
the Doctor looked over the heage and saia: ‘Mars, your moiner would 
not approve ot that.’ Many stories are told ot tne uoctor s democratic 
ways, the old doctor one aay carried some feed across tne street to his 
pig pens and asked a young man who was passing to hand the pail to 
him over the ience. 'the young man did so and was thanked tor his 
trouble ana then asked his name. ‘1 am Reverend Mercer ot tne bweden- 
borgian Church,' was the repiy. ‘Y ou should wear a tali hat and a long tail 
coat tor that calling,’ said the doctor. Doctor Kirtland was the auenor 
of textbooks used at Yale College. One aay two eiegant young men 
stopped in front of the manse and asked an old man in nonucscript 
domes where Doctor Kirtland lived, 'Ihe old man pointed to tne house. 
Ihe young men were Yale students and were making a pilgrimage to 
meet the great man of their university. They politely askeu tne old man 
to hold tneir horse which he did, without comment. Mrs. Tease, the 
doctor s only daughter, came to the door and to the question where Doctor 
Kirtland could be tound, she pointed to the old man holding the horse. 
Ihe young men were tremendously embarrassed while the Doctor enjoyed 
the joke in the same degree, in Civil war times the great savant was 
greatly stirred. He did not waste his patriotism in sentimentality but 
volunteered his services to examine men tor the army at coiumuus. Of 
his descendants, only one, Noble Tease, a great-grandson, lives in Lake- 
wood.” 

“One of the three oldest families in Lakewood, of those who have 
members living here and have made their mark on local history and con¬ 
tributed to our progress is the Prench family, in the history of Trice 
French, adopted citizen of the United States, we can hnd a model of 
loyalty for the country in which he had made his home. He was a brother 
of Lord French, in the East Indian service of England in the early years 
of 1800. He was a younger son and what little capital he had was fur¬ 
nished him by his mother, when he sailed for Canada. He remained there 
a short time when he came to Vermont and was married. When his older 
brother died he refused to return to England and assume the title, but 
remained here and served in the War of 1812 as a lieutenant. He came 
to Rockport in 1818 and settled. He bought fifty acres north of Detroit 
Avenue, partly paid for it and proceeded to clear away the heavy forest. 
This he traded with Nicholson for fifty acres of unencumbered land on 
the south side of Detroit Avenue extending to what is now Bunt’s Road. 
Mr. John French, who lives at the corner of Wyandotte Avenue and 
Detroit, lives on the land purchased from James Nicholson and within 200 
feet from the site of the original home of his grandfather, Price French, 
Of the original family there were three sons and three daughters, Collins, 
Albert, Alonzo, and Mrs. White, Mrs. Wedge and Calipherma, who never 
married. Three sons of Albert French served in the Civil war for three 
years, the last two named being twins. Several members of the family 
have filled various offices in Lakewood.” 


188 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


“There are today only two streets in Lakewood. All the other 
thoroughfares have high sounding names such as avenues, boulevards, 
courts, etc. These two streets are Fry Street and Hird Street, both 
named after early owners of the land. The former street was named 
after Dr. Richard Fry, who bought twenty-seven acres running from 
Detroit Avenue to the lake about 1,000 feet west of the west line of the 
City of Cleveland. Doctor Fry practiced medicine in Cuyahoga Falls, at 
one time a promising rival of Cleveland. For seventeen years before 
coming to East Rockport in 1864, he had taught school in Cleveland. He 
was at one time head of the grammar department of the school on St. 
Clair Avenue, where number one’s engine house now stands. He was a 
contemporary and friend of Andrew Freese, the first principal of the first 
high school of Cleveland and the first superintendent of schools. He was 
a gifted educator, whose special lines were mathematics and language. 
A lengthy complementary notice is given to Doctor Fry in a book on 
Cleveland schools published by Mr. Freese more than a half century ago. 
But even the teacher, especially the one who gives all there is in him to 
that self-sacrificing calling, gets frazled nerves at last, and at the age 
of sixty Doctor Fry bought the Detroit Street property on the advice 
of Doctor Kirtland. Doctor Kirtland said that the land along the lake was 
bound some day to be of great value, and he was right, but when he 
advised the purchase in place of acreage at 105th Street and Euclid 
Avenue, he was in error as a prophet. There was a tumbledown log house 
where the basement of the present block, northeast corner of Fry and 
Detroit now stands. The old homestead that was erected, cost even in 
those cheap times more than the land and when it was sold a dozen years 
ago the buyers paid only $200 for the building. Doctor Fry and Martha 
Johnson Fry, his wife, were of Yankee descent. He was born in Hart- 
wich, Otsego County, New York, in 1803, near Cooperstown, and often 
told of meeting James Fennimore Cooper when the latter was a young 
man and he a small boy. The doctor’s grandfather came from Providence, 
Rhode Island. Mrs. Fry’s father, Captain Jacob Johnson, fought in the 
battle of Lake Champlain against the British in 1813. In his seventy-fifth 
year Doctor Fry delivered the Fourth of July oration at Cooperstown. The 
Cooperstown Freemans Journal made the address and the fact of the 
presence of Doctor Fry and his wife the main feature of their next edition 
and brought out the fact that fifty years before, at the age of twenty-five, 
Doctor Fry had been the Fourth of July orator at the same place. Many 
of the progenitors of the leading families of Cleveland were friends of 
Doctor Fry and not a few went to his school. Among these were Mark 
Hanna, the Chisholms, John D. Rockefeller, James F. Clark and the 
Nortons and Champneys. Doctor Fry lived in the old homestead, which 
stood at the rear of the present Annette block, until his death twenty 
years ago. Many used to make pilgrimages ‘out in the country,’ now 
Lakewood, to see their old teacher.” 

Doctor Fry and Doctor Kirtland belong in a larger way to the history 
of the county as do many of the pioneers, who are specifically identified 
with the original townships. The annals of the townships are of the 
county and form a perspective, surrounding and interwoven with the City 
of Cleveland, whose present growth is beyond the wildest dreams of the 
founders, and whose future greatness no one with accuracy can predict. 
In a lesser degree but in a corresponding ratio, the same can be said of 
Lakewood. 

East Rockport came into existence in its first designation as a post- 
office. The little settlement in the township in about the center of the 
eastern part, or that between Rocky River and Brooklyn Township, was 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


189 


granted a postoffice by the postmaster general and it was opened in the 
store of Lucius Dean, which was near the present location of Belle 
Avenue. Presumably Lucius was postmaster. The store was for some 
time the only general store in the settlement and was later known as the 
Johnson store, the postoffice was named East Rockport. Later when the 
hamlet was formed the name was changed. It may be that the residents 
had witnessed the difficulties arising in some New England towns from 
holding to one name and attaching designations of direction. It is related 
that in Connecticut an old gentleman visited Haddam. He found East 
Haddam, West Haddam, North Haddam, South Haddam, and Haddam 
Haddam, and had so much difficulty in locating the home of some triend 
that he said he wished the devil had ’em. When the hamlet was organ¬ 
ized August 31, 1889, the selection of a name was discussed with a great 
deal of interest. The name “Arlington” was first adopted and application 
sent to the postmaster general for a postoffice in that name. The post¬ 
master general replied that there was another postoffice in the state so 
named and to avoid confusion suggested that some other name be chosen. 
Thereupon a committee was appointed to consider the question of a name 
and report. Ezra Nicholson and A. B. Allen were the committee and 
they made a canvass of the residents before reporting. The name Lake- 
wood was chosen as appropriate and euphonious. Ihe hamlet of Lake- 
wood was organized, having a population of some 400 souls. The first 
trustees were I. E. Canfield, William Made and Noble Hotchkiss. They 
were chosen at a special election held July 11, 1889. They were sworn in 
by Gen. J. J. Elwell and met at the home of Noble Hotchkiss for the first 
meeting. Ezra Nicholson was chosen clerk and treasurer and his bond 
was fixed at $5,000. Charles Townsend was chosen marshal and chief 
of police and his bond fixed at $50. Noble Hotchkiss, Jr., was selected 
road supervisor. The board got right down to business. At this first 
meeting four ordinances were passed. One to regulate the speed of 
horses or vehicles to eight miles an hour, one forbidding any person to 
overload, overdrive, torture or torment, or deprive of water any domestic 
animal, one regulating saloons or drinking places, and another fixing the 
amount to be assessed for taxes at $1,000. The second meeting was char¬ 
acterized by business activity. The president was authorized to swear in 
eleven special policemen, giving each one a badge for which he was to 
pay 50 cents. At the April meeting in 1890, Francis M. Wagar was 
appointed marshal and road supervisor in place of Charles Townsend 
and Noble Hotchkiss, Jr., who resigned. At this meeting also a lockup 
or jail was authorized to be built under the supervision of President Can- 
field. This action was taken because of the fact that the good fishing 
in Rocky River and its recreational advantages called a great many sports 
to its banks, who were often guilty of petty offenses as a part of “having 
a good time.” In August, 1890, an ordinance was passed providing a 
penalty of from $5 to $100 for betting, gambling, or other retractions of 
the state law, with a proviso that the informer should receive 50 per cent 
of the fines. This ordinance was never signed by the president. For 
several years the officers of the hamlet received no compensation. In 
April, 1892, the trustees voted the clerk $35 for his services for the past 
years. Thus Ezra Nicholson became the first salaried or paid official of 
Lakewood. At the second election of the hamlet in 1893, C. L. Tyler was 
chosen president to succeed I. E. Canfield, who had served three years. 
A resolution of thanks was given the retiring president for his fidelity 
and conscientious service, unanimously. The topic of interest in the 
hamlet in the early days of its corporate existence was the building of a 
plank road from Rocky River to West Twenty-fifth Street, Cleveland, 


190 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


and the building of the Rocky River Railroad from the river to the city 
limits of Cleveland at Bridge Street. Another project was the building 
of the Woodland Avenue and West Side Street Railway from the city 
limits of Cleveland at Highland Avenue through the hamlet to Rocky 
River. A franchise was asked in the spring of 1893 on the promise that 
cars should run through from the public square to the river, that the line 
should be completed in one year and that one fare should be charged 
to Belle Avenue and an additional fare beyond that point. A twenty-live 
year franchise was granted after a great deal of discussion. The officers 
of the hamlet after the election in 1895 were: Trustees, C. L. Tyler, 
president, N. Hotchkiss and C. A. Willard; clerk, William F. Closse; 
treasurer, L. Johnson; marshal, John Billington; road supervisor, 
C. Worthington, and engineer, N. B. Dare. William Pruuon was after¬ 
wards selected on the board to fill the vacancy caused by the death of 
C. A. Willard. The hamlet was functioning efficiently when agitation 
for electric lighting for the corporation and the residences was agitated 
by the citizens. Ihe Illuminating Company was at that time unwilling 
to enter the field and there was a general demand for the establishment 
of an electric lighting plant. C. L. Tyler at once took steps to comply. 
He explained the needs of such action before the trustees and John 
French was appointed to act with him as a committee to study the situa¬ 
tion. Their report was made in favor of the project and an engineer was 
employed and the plant established. This did good service for several 
years and was finally taken over by the Illuminating Company. In 1898 
free mail delivery was established within the corporate limits of the 
hamlet. In that year the officers of the hamlet were: Trustees, C. L. Tyler, 
president, Noble Hotchkiss, and J. Tegarden; clerk, N. W. Hird; 
assessor, Samuel McGee; treasurer, J. Johnson; marshal, Henry D. Howe, 
and road supervisor, Clark Worthington. February 14th, action was taken 
by the trustees looking to the building of Clifton Boulevard. The neces¬ 
sary legislation was passed the same year and the improvement made cer¬ 
tain. In the work of securing this as well as the electric lighting plant, 
President C. L. Tyler is by general consent given praise for having done 
a large share. Lakewood’s sewer system was founded under his admin¬ 
istration. There was opposition and the progress of Lakewood as a 
hamlet may not have been as rapid as in later years under other forms 
of government but the corporate existence contributed. Much stress is 
often placed upon political forms by those who are instrumental in the adop¬ 
tion of something new. “For forms of government let fools contest, 
whate’er is best administered is best.” In 1899 the officers of Lakewood 
were: Trustee, Otto C. Berchtold; president, W. A. Wilbur and J. E. 
Tegarden; clerk, John French; treasurer, C. R. Made; assessor, E. T. 
Schupp; marshal, Lewis R. Smith; road supervisor, Alexander McAuley. 
In that year N. C. Cotabish, Alexander Horn and Harry Culp were 
appointed a commission to assess the damages and appraise the benefits in 
connection with the building of Clifton Boulevard. 

On May 4, 1893, Lakewood was organized into a village and the first 
officers were: Mayor, J. J. Rowe; solicitor, G. N. Shaver; clerk, Harry 
J. Sensei; councilmen, Jay C. Andrews, R. F. Edwards, C. E. Newell, 
W. D. Pudney, C. C. Southern and Daniel Webb. Of these first officers 
of the village three, Mr. Pudney, Mr. Rowe and Mr. Edwards, have 
served in the Legislature, Mr. Rowe is the present senator and Mr. 
Edwards the present representative, resident in Lakewood. The mayor 
following J. J. Rowe was Bernard Miller, then came N. C. Cotabish, who 
was the last mayor under the village government. The growth of the 
village was so rapid that in 1912 after nine years as a village Lakewood 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


191 


became a city. The first officers were: Mayor, J. B. Coffinbury; council, 
Clayton W. Tyler; president, W. A. Bennett, M. J. Earle, James Gorm- 
sen, L. E. Kerber, B. F. Mills, Frank V. Reid and Frank L. Thurber. 
Two years later the city passed under a new charter and the officers 
were: Mayor, Clayton W. Tyler; director of public works, N. C. Cotabish; 
of law, Dobert G. Cyrren; of finance, B. B. Cook; council, W. A. Ben¬ 
nett, John H. Brown, William F. Closse, James Gormsen and H. E. 
Gresham, James Gormsen being chosen president; chief of police, Henry 
C. O’Dell; fire chief, Joseph H. Speddy. The following year Councilman 
John H. Brown resigned to take his place as a member of the Legislature, 
and James J. Hinslea was chosen to fill his place. It ,should be noted 
that while Lakewood became a city by proclamation of the secretary of 
state on February 17, 1911, it continued under the village government 
until January 1, 1912. Its growth since that time has been very rapid. 
Perhaps no better illustration of its material growth can be shown than 
by showing the growth of expenditures of the city as given in the report 
of the city auditor. The first year under the city government, under 
Mayor Coffinbury, the city expended $534,258. This does not include 
school expenditures. The last year under Clayton W. Tyler, the successor 
of Mayor Coffinbury, the city expended $1,136,832, the last year under 
Mayor B. M. Cook, the third mayor of the city, the expenditures were 
$1,475,291, and the expenditures under his successor, the present mayor, 
L. E. Hill, for the year 1922 were $2,355,412. The school expenditures 
are not included in any instance. The annual report of the building 
inspector for this year shows that building permits were issued for 1,074 
dwellings with a total valuation of $6,526,725, nineteen apartments with 
a total value of $1,029,000, fifty commercial buildings with a total vahti 
of $1,058,000, one theater, four churches, ninety-three alterations, 745 
minor buildings, one market house, three public garages, two ice stations, 
six gasoline stations and three shops. The total valuation of the building 
permits issued this year of 1922 was $9,503,285 or an increase over the 
year 1921 of $4,315,093. There are seventy-four miles of paved streets 
in Lakewood and the repairs for 1922 cost $43,266.63, and the cleaning 
$9,154. Nearly $10,000 was expended in sidewalk repairs and as much 
more in garbage disposal and rubbish collection. There are ninety-one 
miles of sewer pipe laid in the city streets. The Lakewood police recov¬ 
ered stolen property, including automobiles, to the value of $51,805.78, 
and the mileage of the motorcycles used by the police was 44,659 miles, 
showing that motorcycle men traveled a distance equal to one and four- 
fifths times around the earth in the year 1922. The fires of the city involv¬ 
ing property valued at $16,513,720 have called out the fire department 
335 times, and the total losses by fires has been $30,702, covered by 
insurance to the amount of $28,312. The total bonded indebtedness of 
the city on December 31, 1922, was $4,463,540.70, and the balance in the 
sinking fund at that date was $439,299.85. The care of parks involves 
something less than $10,000 in expenditures. There is Lakewood, Wagar, 
Madison and Rocky River parks, owned by and assets of the city. The 
present officials of the city are: Mayor, L. E. Hill, who is also director 
of public safety and director of public works; director of law, R. G. 
Curren; director of finance, A. O. Guild; council, James Gormsen, H. S. 
Hart, L. A. Hilde, Olive B. Kirk and Maude C. Waitt; city engineer, 
E. A. Fisher; building inspector, George A. Durant, sewer, sidewalk 
and street superintendent, George Cavell; superintendent of the water 
department, J. G. Peltz; chief of fire, J. H. Speddy; chief of police, 
L. B. Miller; health officer, Dr. W. J. Benner; sanitary officer, A. J. 
Phelps; milk inspector, R. S. Cooley; trustees of sinking fund, R. E. Bar- 


192 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


tholomew, P. T. Harrold and George N. Shaver; civil service commis¬ 
sion, C. C. Bultman, J. C. Hoffman, T. M. McNiece and F. W. Maerkle. 
The secretary of the commission is F. R. Thrall. Elsie M. Hutchins is 
deputy director of finance. 

From the district schools to the present efficient and comprehensive 
system of schools in so short a period is one of the marvels of Lakewood’s 
development. Even up to the time when the hamlet was formed as the 
first breakaway from the primitive township organization, the schools 
were of the ordinary country type with little or no attempt at grading 
and instruction confined to narrow limits. It was the one room school, 
having its merits in that the individual pupil had no restraint upon his 
advancement and no restrictions as to his choice of studies, provided he 
found in the teacher one capable of meeting his requirements. From the 
first school started in Mars Wagar’s log house by Jonathan Parshall, a 
shiftless professor of the magic of avoiding labor, to the present high- 
schools of Lakewood, there is an advancement so wonderful as to seem 
like the stories of the transforming wand. The schools of Lakewood 
employ 300 teachers and have an enrollment of 8,000 pupils. The high 
school, Senior High, alone, has an enrollment of 1,900 and employs eighty 
teachers. There are two Junior high school buildings and ten grade 
buildings. C. P. Briggs is principal of the high school, John C. Mitchell 
assistant principal, and Jane M. Pengally, dean of girls. ‘ A handbook of 
Lakewood High School just published says: “The first graduating class 
in 1885 required one diploma, but classes grew little by little and the high 
school moved into a new building, now called the Grant School, just south 
of the old Rockport Building, where Lakewood High made its beginning. 
In 1893 a high school building was erected just across from the present 
site of the Board of Education Building. In 1917-18 the present high 
school building was erected at a cost of over $1,000,000, to accommodate 
2,000. It is now filled and overflowing into the new junior high schools 
as they are erected.” The curriculum includes English, public speaking, 
journalism, short story writing, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, science, 
biology, plant production, chemistry, physics, agronomy, history, eco¬ 
nomics, French, Spanish, Latin, penmanship, spelling, business arithmetic, 
bookkeeping, which includes accountancy, shorthand, typewriting, com¬ 
mercial geography, business law, cabinet' making, foundry work, pattern 
making, sheet metal work, printing, electrical construction, mechanical 
drawing, cooking, household chemistry, home nursing, sewing, millinery, 
art, designing, commercial art, costume illustration, music, and physical 
education. The school has three publications, a monthly magazine, an 
annual, and a bi-weekly newspaper. They are called The Arrow, The 
Cinema and The High Times. The library has a collection of over 5,000 
books. One of the school yells is called Alma Mater. It is this: 

ALMA MATER 

Lakewood High we’re proud of thee. 

All allied in loyalty, 

May thy counsel ever be 
Within our memory. 

Chorus 

Hail to thee, 

O, Lakewood High, 

Thy dear name uphold. 

We shall ne’er forget 
The purple and gold. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


193 


Honors then to Lakewood High, 

May her fame reach to the sky, 

May we always heed her cry, 

To bravely do or die. 

Superintendent Charles P. Lynch was principal of Warren High 
School for five years, was a teacher in Central High School of Cleveland 
in 1902, principal of West High School, Cleveland, and has been super¬ 
intendent of the Lakewood schools for a number of years. 

Lakewood is called the City of Plomes and it might with equal truth¬ 
fulness be called the city of churches, as is Brooklyn, New York. Some, 
that have their roots in the soil of pioneer days have already been men¬ 
tioned. Among the churches of the city are the New Jerusalem Church, 
the Lakewood Methodist Church, Church of the Ascension, Saint James 
Roman Catholic Church, Lakewood Congregational Church, Saint Peter’s 
Episcopal Church, Lakewood Christian Church, Lakewood Presbyterian 
Church, the English Evangelical Lutheran Church, Saint Paul’s Lutheran 
Church, the Lakewood Baptist Church, Calvary United Brethren Church, 
the Detroit Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, Lakewood United Pres¬ 
byterian Church, the First Church of Christ, Scientist, Lakewood, and 
Rocky River Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The Lakewood Chamber of Commerce was organized in 1911 with 
the following officers: President, F. L. Thurber; vice presidents, J. B. Cof- 
finbury and J. C. Lowrie; secretary, W. C. Kenaga; treasurer, J. R. Cota- 
bish; directors, J. H. Ruck, A. E. Kellogg, F. S. Winch, George D. Koch, 
P. A. McCaskey, B. S. Blossom, G. A. Hanson, and F. V. Reid. The 
purpose of this organization reads on its minutes as follows: “The pur¬ 
pose of forming this organization is to promote and protect the moral, 
social, business and civic interests of the City of Lakewood, Ohio; to 
acquire, hold and diffuse such information as will best serve such purposes, 
and to provide entertainment for its members.” Judge Willis Vickery 
succeeded as president of the Chamber in 1915. Other associations are 
the Lakewood Merchants’ Credit Association, organized to establish a 
uniform system of credits and collections, and the Retail Merchants 
Board, organized “to further and protect the interests of the retail deal¬ 
ers of Lakewood; to make it hard to defraud the retailer without imposing 
hardship on the honest debtor; to make it easier to collect just debts 
without distressing those worthy of and needing careful consideration at 
the hands of credit men.” 

Among the financial institutions of the city are the Lakewood State 
Bank, corner of Detroit and Belle avenues, the Lakewood branch of the 
Cleveland Trust Company, of Cleveland, corner of Detroit and Highland 
avenues, the Colonial Savings and Loan Company, corner of Detroit and 
Belle avenues, and the Rocky River Savings and Banking Company, on 
Blount Street, Rocky River. . , 

The clubs and fraternal orders include the Lakewood lennis Club, 
the Lakewood Young Men’s Business Club, the Cleveland Yacht Club, 
which owns the island at the mouth of the Rocky River, and has large 
clubhouses, docks, tennis and croquet grounds, gymnasium, swimming 
pools and sun parlors, its property valued at more than $50,000. The 
Lakewood Boat Club, the Lakewood Thimble Club, “to promote intel¬ 
lectual growth and social fellowship, and to aid philanthropic institutions,’ 
Current Events club, “an organization for the social enlightenment of its 
members and to provide literary and social recreation of a high order,’ 
the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Lakewood Division of the 
Woman’s Suffrage Party, now out of a job, the Lakewood branch of the 


194 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Associated Charities of Cleveland, on Detroit Avenue near Fry, established 
to take over the charity work of the City of Lakewood. Of the secret 
and benevolent orders there is a lodge of'the Knights of Pythias, and of 
the Pythian Sisters, three blue lodges of the Masonic Order, an Eastern 
Star Lodge, Lincoln No. 309, two Forester lodges, Lakewood and Com¬ 
panion, Independent Order of Foresters, Clifton Lodge, Knights of the 
Maccabees, Lakewood No. 490, and Ladies of the Maccabees, Lakewood 
No. 437, the Royal Protective League, and Catholic Order of Foresters 
Lakewood Hospital, established by the Lakewood Hospital Company, 
is located on Detroit Avenue, with a dispensary on Madison, and its his¬ 
tory is interesting. It was built bv a companv but not for profit and its 
maintenance has been at times difficult. The Lakewood Hospital Charitable 
Association, composed of ladies, has greatlv aided in the maintenance 
Among the trustees of the institution mav be mentioned W. J. Hunkin 
E. W. Fisher, Oscar Kroehle, Miss Alice M. Brooks, and Judge Willis 
Vickery. The Lakewood Sanatorium, founded by Dr. A. S. McClain, 
for the treatment of those afflicted with rheumatism and nervous dis¬ 
eases, is located at 18411 Detroit Avenue. This is classed as a public 
institution and its aim is to give treatment under home surroundings. 
Mention should be made of the parochial school in connection with Saint 
James Church. This was established in 1912 under the auspices of the 
Sisters of Humility and Mercy. The school structure, Saint lames’ Hall, 
has sixteen class rooms and is provided with a fine auditorium Rev 
Michael D Leahy is at the head of the work. Saint Augustine Convent’ 
located on Lake Avenue, is the only one in the city. It has an attractive 
home building and pretty surroundings. Among the structures that attract 
attention is the Rocky River bridge, built bv the county. When it was 
built it contained the largest concrete arch in the United States Since 
that time it has been exceeded by others. This affords a fine view of 
the river valley. It is built entirely of reinforced concrete, which “moth 
and rust doth not corrupt.” The Masonic Temple, located on Detroit 
Avenue, is one of the fine structures of the citv. 

In 1915 the authorities published an illustrated pamphlet, a chrono¬ 
logical statement of facts concerning the City of Lakewood, which was 
sold for the benefit of the fire and police pension fund. In this are 
many pictures of residences and public buildings of the citv which are 
exceedingly attractive. ' * 

Lakewood has no industrial life to record. Like the original township 
which was number 7 of range 14 in the original survey, afterwards Rock- 
port, it has never “been contaminated with the vices of manufacture ” 
The nearest approach to industrial activity was in 1914 when the gas well 
boom was on Some 200 wells were sunk and oil derricks loomed in the 
skv, but the boom was short lived and only a limited number were paving 
propositions. k y ® 

r J h Vi Clty , °J H r 9J T,es ” ls ; n . every respect a residence section of 
Greater Cleveland. The only distinction is that it has its own municipal 
and school government. The question of annexation to Cleveland has 
been agitated from time to time. At a recent election the question was 
submitted to the voters and the proposition to annex voted down At this 
election referred to or rather at the general election held at this time 
Hest Park voted otherwise and its territory is now a part of Cleveland! 
lust how the sentiment on this question will develop remains for the future 
historian to record. At present it is a beautiful city of 55,000 inhabitants 
characterized by high ideals, intelligence, and progressive, vigorous life. 


CHAPTER XVI 
ORANGE 

Go with us now to township 7 of range 10 of the survey of the West- 
ern Reserve. Except that the forests are changed to farms, and paved 
roads at intervals have replaced the trails, and the sound of the auto horn 
the war whoop, the changes of a century and more are easily recorded. 
This township has no cities or villages within its borders. A portion of 
its original territory was taken when Chagrin Falls was formed but that 
is all. It is strictly a farming community, quiet, orderly, apart from the 
wild rush of industry and trade. And yet it has a distinction that out¬ 
weighs all the rest. Here in the woods, in a log cabin, its walls of logs, 
its roof of shingles split with an axe, and its floor of rude thick planking 
split out of tree trunks with a wedge and maul, a pioneer mother cared 
for her household. The house had only a single room at one end of which 
was the big chimney and fireplace. Here the cooking was done. At the 
other end of the room was the bed. The younger children slept in a 
trundle bed, which was under the larger bed in the daytime to make room, 
as space was at a premium. The older ones climbed up in the loft under 
the steep roof to sleep. The father worked early and late clearing his 
farm, and it was said that he had few equals in wielding the axe. At least 
no man in the region around could equal him in the use of that pioneer 
necessity. A baby was born in this house November 19, 1831, another 
care for the faithful mother. Nearly fifty years later this mother, her 
boy, her youngest born, grown to manhood, and famous as soldier, orator, 
and statesman, turned to give her a kiss, as his first act after entering 
upon his duties as President of the United States, James A. Garfield. It 
is a proud distinction for the little township that the only President born 
on the soil of Cuyahoga County, and whose beautiful monument stands 
in Lake View Cemetery, at Cleveland, first saw the light and lived as a 
boy within her borders. His history and that of the wonderful mother 
belongs to the ages, but so much of it as pertains to their life in Orange 
may be given briefly in this recounting. In May, 1833, when the future 
President was eighteen months old, a serious fire broke out in the woods 
on the Garfield farm. Abram Garfield, the father, worked with his great 
strength and impetuosity in fighting the fire to keep it from the home, 
the fences and fields, and when it was checked, sat down to rest in a cool 
breeze. He was taken with a severe sore throat, and a country doctor 
aggravated the trouble by treatment that would now be discarded. Before 
he died he pointed to his children and said, “Eliza, I have planted four 
saplings in these woods. I leave them to your care.” He was buried in 
the corner of a wheat field on his farm. The hardships of the pioneer 
mother left with her four children would have been more serious but for 
the assistance of Uncle Boynton, whose farm was next to theirs. Amos 
Boynton deserves a prominent place in history. His strong self reliant 
nature gave courage as his directing mind and material assistance aided 
the stricken family. He was a typical pioneer. The farms of the Gar- 
fields and the Boyntons were separated by a large forest on one side and 
a rocky ravine on the other from the settled country around. From the 

195 


Vol. 1-7 


196 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


day, and for many years after, Abram Garfield and his half brother 
Boynton built their log cabins, the nearest house was seven miles distant. 
When the township became well settled, the rugged character of the sur¬ 
face around their farms kept neighbors at a distance too great for the 
children to find associates among them, except at the district school. The 
district school was located on a corner of the Garfield farm and it was 
there that James A. Garfield learne'd his a b c’s, and began to leaf the 
pages of Noah Webster’s Spelling Book at the age of four. The child¬ 
hood of James was spent in complete isolation from social influences 
except those that came from the district school, the home of his mother, 
and that of his uncle Boynton. James worked on the farm as soon as he 
was old enough to be of service and that is quite early, for there is much 
on the farm that a small boy can do. 

He labors when the “dash” is in the churn, 

If the grindstone’s called to action he must turn, 

And he brings in all the wood, and he goes to get the cow, 

And he helps to feed the sheep, 

And he treads the stack and mow. 

Then it’s time to go to sleep. 

The family was very poor, and the mother often worked in the fields 
with the boys. “She spun the yarn and wove the cloth for the children’s 
clothes and her own, sewed for the neighbors, knit stockings, cooked the 
simple meals for the household in the big fireplace, over which hung an 
iron crane for the pot-hooks, helped plant and hoe the corn and gather 
the hay crop, and even assisted the oldest boy to clear and fence land. 
In the midst of this toilsome life the brave little woman found time to 
instill into the minds of her children the religious and moral maxims of 
her New England ancestry. Every day she read four chapters of the 
Bible, and this was never omitted except when sickness interfered. The 
children lived in an atmosphere of religious thought and discussion. 
Uncle Boynton, who was a second father to the Garfield family, flavored 
all his talk with Bible quotations. He carried a Testament in his pocket 
wherever he went and would sit on a plough-beam at the end of a furrow 
to take it out and read a chapter. It was a time of religious ferment in 
Northern Ohio. New sects filled the air with their doctrinal cries. The 
Disciples, a sect founded by the preaching of Alexander Campbell, an 
eloquent and devout man of Scotch descent, who ranged over Kentucky, 
Ohio, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, from his home at Bethany, in the ‘Pan 
Handle,’ had made great progress. They assailed all creeds as made by 
men and declared the Bible to be the only rule of life. Attacking all 
other denominations they were vigorously attacked in return. James’ 
mind was filled at an early day with the controversies this new sect ex¬ 
cited. The guests at his mother’s house were mostly traveling preachers, 
and the talk of the neighborhood, when not about the crops and farm 
labors, was usually on religious topics. At the district school James was 
known as a fighting boy. He found that the larger boys were disposed 
to insult and abuse a little fellow who had no father or big brother to 
protect him, and he resented such imposition with all the force of a 
sensitive nature backed by a hot temper, great physical courage, and a 
strength unusual for one of his age. His big brother Thomas had finished 
his schooling and was much away from home, working by the month or 
the day to earn money for the support of the family. Many stories went 
the rounds in Orange of the pluck shown by the future major-general 
in his encounters with the rough country lads in defense of his boyish 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


197 


rights and honor. It was said that he never began a fight and never 
cherished malice, but when enraged by taunts or insults would attack boys 
of twice his size with the fury and tenacity of a bull dog.” 

Immediately after the War of 1812 fifteen settlers moved into that 
territory which is now the greater part of Orange. The first settler was 
Serenus Burnett, who settled on Chagrin River in 1815. It was then a 
part of township 7, range 10, but is now included in Chagrin Falls. The 
old annals do not give us much of the families of these first settlers for to a 
greater extent than in most others the original pioneers are not repre¬ 
sented by descendants, as many have moved away and death has called 
as well. Thomas King of Orange Hill lived in the township to a ripe old 
age. He came in 1818. Then Jesse Kimball, Rufus Parsons, John White 
and Theron White had preceded him by one or two years. They all lived 



The Survivors 

The few trees left of the orchard planted by Abram Garfield, father of 
President Garfield, in Orange Township. The cross at the left shows the 
site of the log house in which President Garfield was born. The trees of 
the orchard were each named by “Jim” Garfield after some historic 
character. 


on the high ground in the north part of the township. The western part 
was the narrow valley of the Chagrin River, running due north across 
it. Separated from this valley is a broad highland known as Orange 
Hill. This tract comprises most of the northern part. From Orange 
Hill the surface gradually descends towards the south. The portion 
south of the central line is only of moderate height but is comparatively 
dry and has some broken ground. It has good natural drainage. The 
soil is a gravelly clay, and when the first settlers came it was covered with 
a growth of beech, maple, oak, elm and other forest trees. On account 
of its natural drainage and diversified forest it presented a more alluring 
appearance to pioneers than other more fertile sections, made unhealthy 
by swamps and wet ground. As all the first settlers located on the high 
ground it would appear that this consideration was first in mind and that 
they were seeking the most healthful location. The new comers imme¬ 
diately began clearing around their cabins, planting, sowing, and reaping 
grain, among the stumps, while yet the marks of the axe showed fresh 


198 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


and new. Wild mutton from the deer, and woodland pork, from the 
bear, they got. Wild herds were abundant. Other settlers came in 1818 
and in 1819, and an agitation began at once for the formation of a civil 
township. Law and order must prevail in the woods as well as in New 
England. An appeal was made to the county commissioners, the name 
Orange selected, and on June 7, 1820, a civil township was formed, but 
to contain townships 6 and 7 in range 10. This territory of the original 
civil township included all of the present townships of Solon and Orange 
and most of Chagrin Falls. 

The first election was held at the home of Daniel R. Smith June 27, 
1820, and the following officers chosen: Trustees, Eber M. Waldo, Caleb 
Litch, and Edmund Mallett; clerk, David Sayler; treasurer, D. R. Smith ; 
lister, Eber M. Waldo; appraiser, Lawrence Huff; overseers of the poor, 
Thomas King and Serenus Burnet; fence viewers, William Weston and 
Seruyn Cleaveland; superintendents of the highways, E. Mallett, Rufus 
Parsons, Caleb Litch and Thomas Robinson. These officers were all res¬ 
idents of number 6, as number 7 was not then settled, with the excep¬ 
tion of Burnet. That is they were residents of the present Township of 
Orange. In 1822, two years later, the election was held on May 20th, 
and there were thirty-six who voted. The poll books do not show the 
entire voting population of the township as a few did not vote. As we 
estimate from the voters the poll books for 1822 would indicate a popu¬ 
lation in the township of about 300 at that time. There were some settle¬ 
ments in the south part of Solon at that time but they did not take the 
trouble to come so far through the woods to vote. The names of those 
who voted are Peter Gardinier, Jonathan Covey, Edward Corey, Jess 
Kimball, Jacob Gardinier, Isaac Saffler, Sylvanus L. Simpson, William 
Weston, Caleb Alvord, Nathaniel Goodspeed, Thomas King, Seruyn 
Cleaveland, Lewis Northrup, Clarimond Herriman, Benjamin Jenks, 
Nathaniel Sherman, Joseph Watson, Amaziah Northrop, Daniel R. 
Smith, Jacob Hutchins, Jedediah Buxton, Daniel S. Taylor, Asa Wood- 
worth, Silas T. Dean, Ansel Jerome, Luman Griswold, Serenus Burnet, 
Ephraim Towne, Benjamin Hardy, Cornelius Millspaugh, Abel Stafford, 
Caleb Litch, John G. White and James Fisher. After this the settle¬ 
ment of the township must have been slow or the voters recreant to their 
duties of citizenship for in 1828, six years later, only twenty-eight were 
registered as voting at the township election. Seth Mapes came as a 
settler in 1827. His son, John Mapes, was long prominent in township 
affairs. Amos Boynton, whom we have mentioned in connection with the 
Garfields, was an early settler in Newburg, where he had lived since 1818. 
Moving to Orange he settled one mile and a half south of the center. 
Some time after his death the farm was occupied by his widow and son, 
H. B. Boynton. When the Boyntons came it was a wilderness. There 
was a north and south road laid out, but it had not been worked. Doctor 
Witter was a practicing physician at Orange Center. It is more than 
likely that he was the doctor called to attend Abram Garfield in his last 
sickness. H. B. Boynton was long prominent in township and county 
affairs. In 1829 there was no store, hotel or mill in Orange. A gristmill 
was built on the Chagrin River within the present limits of Orange, but 
it was soon abandoned. Settlers took their grists to Chagrin Falls or to 
a mill in the present limits of that township and village. Here as else¬ 
where the wolves were destructive and killed many sheep that strayed 
outside of the fenced enclosures. Abram Garfield, as soon as he had a 
clearing sufficient, planted a fine orchard, as did Amos Boynton. A few 
of the trees planted by the father of the martyred President are still 
standing. James had a name in later years, while a boy on the farm, for 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


199 


each tree. The trees were named after some historic character. 
Appropriate names suggested by the quality of the fruit were given, and 
we can imagine the interest attached and the appropriateness of the des¬ 
ignations in view of the high literary attainments of the future President 
in later years. We have said the log cabin of the Garfields was a one-room 
house. When the log schoolhouse, which was on a corner of the Gar¬ 
field farm, was abandoned for a new frame building, the old log building 
was bought by Thomas Garfield for a trifle and he and James with the 
help of the Boynton boys pulled it down and moved it over and put it 
up again a few steps to the rear of their cabin. The family then had 
two rooms and counted themselves quite comfortable so far as household 
accommodations were concerned. In these two log buildings the family 
lived until James was fourteen, when the boys, with the assistance of 
Uncle Boynton, built a frame house for their mother. In the location of 
the log houses by the pioneers a spot if possible near a spring was selected. 
The convenience of the water supply was important and wells came later. 
The log house in the orchard was near a spring, but of a rather indiffer¬ 
ent kind, located in a swale. When the new frame house was built it 
was at the point where they had located a clear running spring of cold 
water, a distance west of the old home site. This spring is much in 
evidence today. 

“Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it, 

Though filled with the nectar that Jupiter sips.” 

This new house was painted red and had three rooms below and two 
under the roof. Today it is painted white and surrounded by shade trees 
planted by the builders of the new home, but grown to large proportions. 
James Garfield often got employment in the haying and harvesting season 
from the farmers of Orange. When he was sixteen he walked ten miles 
to Aurora, in company with a boy older than himself, looking for work. 
They offered their services to a farmer who had a good deal of hay to 
cut. Negotiations were on and the boys demanded $1 a day, men’s 
wages. The Aurora farmer demurred, not being willing to pay men’s 
wages to boys. They then proposed to cut the hay by the acre, and sug¬ 
gested the going price of 50 cents. This offer was accepted and when 
night came the four acres were cut and the boys got their dollar each. 
It should be recorded that they finished by 4 o’clock. Then the farmer 
engaged them for several weeks. The future President got his first reg¬ 
ular wages from a merchant who ran an ashery where he leached ashes 
and made black salts, which were shipped by lake and canal to New York. 
He got $9 a month and his board, and stuck to the business for two 
months. When he quit work at the ashery his hair was bleached by the 
fumes to a bright red hue except that portion of his head which was 
protected by his cap. Afterwards he went to his uncle’s in Newburgh, 
near Independence, and cleared land. His contract was to cut 100 cords 
of wood at 50 cents a cord. He boarded with one of his sisters, who was 
married and lived nearby. He, like his father, was a good chopper and 
easily cut two cords a day. Like many a country lad who lived in view 
of the water he had a great aspiration to be a sailor. He had seen the 
white sails on Lake Erie and had read stories of the sea. He made up 
his mind to be a sailor and to start on the lakes with a view, no doubt, 
eventually to sail on the ocean. With this in mind he walked to Cleve¬ 
land, boarded a schooner, at anchor at the wharf, and finding the captain, 
told him that he wanted to hire out as a sailor. The captain, much im¬ 
pressed with his own importance and half drunk, desired to astonish the 



Tp E Second Home OF President James A. Garfield on the 
Garfield Farm, Orange Township, As It Appears Today 

• 5’ arfi , eld ,’ wben f bo - v of fourteen, worked in building this home 
mto which the family moved from the log house where the 
.President was born. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


201 


green country lad and answered him with a volley of profanity and coarse 
language. James escaped as quickly as he could and walked up the river 
along the docks in search of opportunity. While on his way he heard 
himself called by name from the deck of a canal boat. The speaker was 
a cousin, Amos Letcher. Letcher was captain of a canal boat, and learn¬ 
ing his quest, proposed to hire him to drive mules or horses on the tow- 
path. The future President was taken with this offer as being primary 
navigation and something that might lead up to his dream of “a life on 
the ocean wave, a home on the rolling deep.” He accepted the offer and 
the wages agreed upon were $10 a month and “found,” the last word 
indicating board, lodging, and washing. The next day he began his labors. 
The boat was called the Evening Star and was loaded with copper ore 
for Pittsburg. It was open amidships and had a cabin on the bow for 
horses, and one in the stern for the men. On the return trip the Evening 
Star stopped at Brier Hill and here took on a cargo of coal from the 
mines of David Tod, afterward governor of Ohio and a warm personal 
friend of Garfield, the major general and congressman. Governor Tod 
died in 1868, long before Garfield became President. The future states¬ 
man continued his work on the canal through the season of 1848. After 
the first trip the Evening Star plied back and forth between Brier Hill 
and Cleveland with cargoes of coal and iron. The mule driver rose to 
be steersman on the boat. As the season closed he was taken with that 
malady that afflicted so many, who worked on or lived near the canal, 
fever and ague. This kept him home and in bed most of the following 
winter and the money he had earned in the summer went for doctors’ 
bills and medicine. This was Providential, for it gave the mother, who 
had never approved of his idea of being a sailor, and disapproved accord¬ 
ingly of the canal adventure, her opportunity. When he got well the 
mother sought to arouse in him a desire for learning as a counter prop¬ 
osition. The passion for the sea she knew was real and she reasoned 
that it could only be cured by a counter passion. She brought to her 
aid the district school teacher, Samuel D. Bates. Bates was a man of fine 
parts and an attractive and interesting character. He stirred up the boy 
with a desire for an education, and he and the faithful mother changed 
the course of the would-be sailor to one marked on the log book of his¬ 
tory. James went to the Geauga Academy, at Chester, a few miles distant, 
and began his studies. We have spoken of the intense religious feeling 
in the neighborhood and the devotion of his mother and Uncle Boynton. 
He refused time and again to join the church as he was urged to do, and 
when the urgency became too marked he stayed away from meetings for 
several Sundays. He wished to arrive at his own conclusions on the sub¬ 
ject in his own way. After two years at the Geauga Academy he joined his 
uncle’s congregation, and was baptized in a little stream in Orange, a 
tributary of the Chagrin River. This occurred while a series of meetings 
were being held in a schoolhouse near the Garfield home. It is said he 
was greatly interested in the reading of Pollok’s “Course of Time,” 
which impressed him deeply and started him in the study of religious 
matters. But more of the beginning of the new departure from a life of 
adventure as a sailor to the student. Mrs. Garfield, the mother, was tact¬ 
ful and wonderful. She knew the boy mind and how fixed might be the 
cherished ideas there entertained. She used the argument that if he 
attended school and became able to teach, he could teach winters and sail 
summers and then be sure of employment the year round. It was in 
March of 1849 that James with his cousins, William and Henry Boynton, 
started at the Geauga Academy at Chester, a Free Will Baptist school. 
It was ten miles from the Garfield home in Orange. The future Presi- 


202 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


dent had $17, which his mother and brother Thomas had scraped 
together, when he started. He and the Boynton boys took along pro¬ 
visions and rented a room in an old unpainted house occupied by a poor 
widow. The room had two beds and a cook stove, and the widow agreed 
to cook their meals and do their washing for a very small compensation. 
The school at that time had about 100 pupils. The building was two- 
storied and in it was a library of 100 volumes, more books than James 
had ever seen before. Daniel Branch was the principal, and his wife 
was first assistant. The pupils were of both sexes. When the term was 
over, twelve weeks, Garfield went home to Orange, helped his brother 
build a barn for his mother, and then worked for day wages at haying 
and harvesting. With the money earned he settled with the doctor for 
the balance due from the attendance in his long sickness. He left no 
debts at the academy and more than that he came home with a silver 
sixpence in his pocket. The next day at church he dropped this in the 
contribution box, so that when he began work in the summer he started 
with a clean slate. The next term at the Chester Academy he contracted 
with Homan Woodworth, a carpenter, to live at his house, and he was to 
have lodging, board, washing, fuel, and light for $1.06 per week, and 
with this arrangement it was understood that he might earn something 
by helping the carpenter on Saturdays and at odd school hours. The 
carpenter was building a two-story house, and on the first Saturday, 
Garfield planed siding at two cents a board, and earned $1.02, the most 
money he ever got for a day’s work, up to that time. This term he 
earned enough to pay for tuition, books, and other expenses, and came 
home with $8 in his pocket. After two years at the academy he felt 
qualified to teach, and started out to get a school. He tramped two days 
oyer Cuyahoga County and came home without success, and completely 
disheartened. In many of the schools the teachers were already engaged 
and in others the directors thought him too young. He met rebuffs and 
was greatly humiliated. It is said that he then made a resolve that he 
would never again ask for a position of any kind and that throughout 
his life that resolution was never broken, as all came to him, even the 
nomination for the presidency, unsolicited. Well, the next morning after 
his unsuccessful effort and return home, he heard a man call to his 
mother from the road, Widow Garfield, where’s your boy Jim? I 
wonder if he wouldn’t like to teach our school at the Ledge” James 
immediately made his presence known and found a neighbor from a dis¬ 
trict a mile away, where the school had been broken up for two winters 
by the rowdyism of the big boys. He said he would like to try the school 
but before deciding definitely he must consult his uncle, Amos Boynton' 

I hat evening the two families got together and held a council. Uncle 
Amos was the leading mind in the conference and his opinions were con¬ 
sidered sound. He heard the proposition in full and then gave the subject 
deliberate silent consideration. Finally he said: “You go and trv it You 
wdl go into that school as the boy, ‘Jim Garfield,’ see that you come out as 
Mr Garfield the schoolmaster. The school was mastered. Among the 
first efforts at discipline was a tussle with the bully of the school, who in 
the melee tried to brain the teacher with a stick of wood. The teacher 

T^^ a f d a u er • t ! iat then L^ as order and dili gent and respectful pupils. 
The future President got $12 a month and his board. He boarded around 

C3 S e ? Ut , ln the with more money than he had ever had before, 

$4S. He had now clearly abandoned the idea of becoming a sailor. He 
and his cousin Henry Boynton, went to the academy for a third time. 

1 hey boarded themselves and kept a strict account and at the end of six 
weeks found that their expenses for food had averaged just 31 cents per 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


203 


week apiece. Henry argued that they were living too poorly, consistent 
with good health, and so they agreed to increase the weekly expense for 
food to 50 cents a week. With this necessity for strict economy even at 
the academy, James had looked upon a college course as entirely beyond 
his reach, but he met a graduate of a college, who told him that it was pos¬ 
sible, that it was a mistaken idea that only the sons of rich parents could 
go to college, that a poor boy could work his way through, but it might 
take a long time. He was now obsessed with the idea of going to college 
and at the academy began the study of Latin, philosophy, and botany. 
Again he is back on the farm at Orange, working through the summer 
at haying and carpentering. In the fall he went back to Chester for a 
fourth term at the academy and in the winter taught school at Warrens- 
ville. Here he received $16 a month and board. Returning to Orange 
he learned that the Disciples, his chosen denomination, had just founded 
a college at Hiram, Portage County, a cross roads village twelve miles 
from a town or a railroad. His religious preference called him to that 
college. He began his studies there in August, 1851. The college was a 
plain brick building standing in the midst of a corn field, with a few 
houses nearby as boarding places for students. He roomed with four 
other students and studied with intense application. In the winter he 
again taught school at Warrensville and this time he received $18 a month. 
In the spring he was back at Hiram, and during the summer vacation 
helped build a house there, planing all the siding and shingling the roof. 
At the beginning of his second year at Hiram he was made a tutor there, 
and from that time on he taught and studied at the same time. In three 
years’ time he fitted himself to enter the junior class, thus crowding, in¬ 
cluding the preparatory, six years’ study into three, and teaching for his 
support at the same time. His pupils at the Hiram school included 
Lucretia Rudolph, who recited to him two years, and later was a teacher 
in the Cleveland schools. The teacher and pupil became engaged while 
at Hiram, but the marriage awaited financial conditions. While the lady 
taught in Cleveland, the tutor planned a larger study, as both awaited 
the realization of their hopes. Garfield wrote to the presidents of Yale, 
Brown, and Williams colleges telling what books he had studied and ask¬ 
ing in what class he could enter if he passed the requisite examination. 
All answered that he could enter the junior year. President Hopkins of 
Williams said in his letter: “If you come here, we shall do what we can 
for you.” This kindly postscript decided him in his choice, and he went 
to Williams, arriving there in June, 1854, with $300 dollars in his pocket, 
which he had saved as a tutor at Hiram. Although self taught, that is, 
having studied many of the prescribed books without a teacher, he passed 
the examination easily. After his examination and before the school 
opened he spent his time in the large library at Williams reading. He 
especially delighted in Shakespeare and Tennyson, authors that he had 
never read before except the small extracts found in school text books. 
He reveled in English history and poetry. He broke into the wide range 
of fiction, prescribed at that time by religious people generally as a waste 
of time and therefore sinful. When he entered Williams he studied Latin 
and Greek, and took up German as an elective study. During the winter 
vacation at the end of the fall term, he taught a writing school at North 
Pownal, Vermont. He wrote a fine hand but not one included in the 
systems’ taught in commercial schools. His writing was the envy, it is 
said, of the boys and girls who attended his school at North Pownal. A 
year or two before he taught his writing class there, Chester A. Arthur, 
who was elected Vice President with him and. succeeded to the presidency 
at his death, taught the district school in the same building. At the end 


204 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


of his first college year at Williams, Garfield visited his mother, who was 
then living with a daughter in Solon. His money was gone and he must 
either drop out a year and teach or borrow money to complete his college 
course. He decided to insure his life for the benefit of the lender and 
borrow. After his brother Thomas had tried to furnish the loan and 
failed, he succeeded in borrowing from a neighbor, Doctor Robinson. He 
gave his notes for the loan and said it was on a fair business basis, for if 
he lived he would pay it and if he died the lender would get his money. 
In the second winter vacation he again taught writing school, this time in 
Poestenkill, New York, a little town, six miles from Troy. This brought 
him in a little money to help out in his college expenses. It was in his 
last year at Williams that Garfield made a political speech in which he 
gave evidence of that gift of oratory that made him famous in later 
years. His mother was Eliza Ballou of Huguenot ancestry, and the fam¬ 
ily for generations back were a race of preachers. It may be supposed 
that President Garfield’s wonderful gift of oratory was derived from the 
mother’s side, the Ballous. The political speech referred to was in sup¬ 
port of John C. Freemont for President. He had never before taken any 
part in political meetings. 

This speech was made before a gathering in one of the class rooms at 
the college. It is said that he was the first man nominated for the presi¬ 
dency whose “political convictions and activities began with the birth of 
the republican party.” He graduated in August, 1856, but before that 
time he had been elected to a post at Hiram. It was not a professorship, 
for that institution was not a college and did not become one until after the 
Civil war. A year later Garfield was placed at the head of the school. 
He began to preach but was never ordained as a minister, for the Dis¬ 
ciples do not ordain, but anyone having the ability to preach is welcome to 
their pulpit. His fame as a preacher soon extended beyond the confines 
of Hiram. A year after coming to Hiram as a member of the faculty, 
and when he was at the head of the school, enjoying a living compensa¬ 
tion, he married Lucretia Rudolph, his former pupil, with whom he had 
been so long engaged. The marriage took place November 11, 1858. He 
began speaking in political campaigns first in small meetings about Hiram 
and then in larger gatherings, and in 1860 was elected to the State Senate. 
While in the Legislature he studied law, expecting to make that his life 
occupation. He entered his name as a law student in the office of Wil¬ 
liamson and Riddle, of Cleveland, and got from Mr. Riddle a list of 
books to be studied. In 1861 he applied to the Supreme Court at Colum¬ 
bus for admission to the bar, and was examined by Thomas M. Key, a 
distinguished lawyer of Cincinnati, and Robert Harrison, afterwards a 
member of the Supreme Court Commission, and was admitted. The 
subsequent career of this remarkable man, pioneer, and son of a pioneer 

Orange Township, would fill volumes, but we cannot refrain from 
giving an instance in his military record which turns us back in thought 
to the days when he steered the canal boat on the Ohio canal, having 
risen from the position of driver on the towpath. The incident is taken 
from Whitelaw Reid’s “Ohio in the War.” 

“When the time came for appointing the officers for the Ohio troops, 
the Legislature was still in session. Garfield at once avowed his intention 
of entering the service. He was offered the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 
Forty-second Ohio Regiment, but it was not until the 14th of Decem¬ 
ber that orders for the field were received. The regiment was then sent 
to Catlettsburg, Kentucky, and Garfield, then made a colonel, was directed 
to report in person to General Buell. On the 17th of December he 
assigned Colonel Garfield to the command of the Seventeenth Brigade. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


205 


and ordered him to drive the rebel forces under Humphrey Marshall out 
of Sandy Valley, in Eastern Kentucky. Up to this date no active opera¬ 
tions had been attempted in the great department that lay south of the 
Ohio River. The spell of Bull Run still hung over our armies. Save 
the campaigns in Western Virginia, and the unfortunate attack by Gen¬ 
eral Grant at Belmont, not a single engagement had occurred over all 
the region between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. General Buell 
was preparing to advance upon the rebel position at Bowling Green, when 
he suddenly found himself hampered by two cooperating forces skillfully 
planted within striking distance of his flank. General Zollicofifer was 
advancing from Cumberland Gap toward Mill Spring, and Humphrey 
Marshall, moving down the Sandy Valley, was threatening to overrun 
Eastern Kentucky. Till these could be driven back, an advance upon 
Bowling Green would be perilous, if not actually impossible. To General 
George H. Thomas, then just raised from his colonelcy of regulars to a 
brigadier-generalship of volunteers, was committed the task of repulsing 
Zollicoffer; to the untried colonel of the raw Forty-second Ohio, the 
task of repulsing Humphrey Marshall, and on their success the whole 
army of the department waited. Colonel Garfield thus found himself, 
before he had ever seen a gun fired in action, in command of four regi¬ 
ments of infantry, and some eight companies of cavalry, charged with 
the work of driving out of his native state the officer reputed the ablest 
of those not educated to war whom Kentucky had given to the rebellion. 
Marshall had under his command nearly 5,000 men stationed at the Vil¬ 
lage of Paintville, sixty miles up the Sandy Valley. He was expected by 
the rebel authorities to advance towards Lexington, unite with Zollicoffer, 
and establish the authority of the Provisional Government at the state 
capital. These hopes were fed by the recollection of his great intellectual 
abilities, and the soldierly reputation he had borne ever since he lead the 
famous charge of the Kentucky volunteers at Buena Vista. But Gar¬ 
field won the day. Marshall hastily abandoned his position, fired his 
camp equipage and stores, and began a retreat- which was not ended till 
he reached Abington, Virginia. A fresh peril, however, now beset the 
little force. An unusually violent rainstorm broke out, the mountain 
gorges were all flooded, and the Sandy rose to such a height that steam 
boatmen pronounced it impossible to ascend the stream with supplies. 
The troops were almost out of rations, and the rough mountainous coun¬ 
try was incapable of supporting them. Colonel Garfield had gone down 
the river to its mouth. He ordered a small steamer which had been in 
the quartermaster’s service to take on a load of supplies and start up. 
The captain declared it was impossible. Efforts were made to get other 
vessels, but without success. Finally Colonel Garfield ordered the cap¬ 
tain and crew on board, stationed a competent officer on deck to see that 
the captain did his duty, and himself took the wheel. The captain still 
protested that no boat could possibly stem the raging current, but Gar¬ 
field turned her head up the stream and began the perilous trip. The 
water in the usually shallow river was sixty feet deep, and the tree tops 
along the bank were almost submerged. The little vessel trembled from 
stem to stern at every motion of the engines; the waters whirled about 
her as if she were a skiff; and the utmost speed that steam could give her 
was three miles an hour. When night fell the captain of the boat begged 
permission to tie up. To attempt ascending that flood in the dark, he 
declared, was madness. But Colonel Garfield kept his place at the wheel. 
Finally in one of the sudden bends of the river, they drove, with a full 
head of steam, into the quicksand of the bank. Every effort to back off 
was in vain. Garfield at last ordered a boat to be lowered to take a line 


206 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


across to the opposite bank. The crew protested against venturing out 
in the flood. The colonel leaped into the boat himself and steered it over. 
The force of the current carried them far below the point they sought to 
reach; but they finally succeeded in making fast to a tree and rigging a 
windlass with rails sufficiently powerful to draw the vessel off and get her 
once more afloat. It was on Saturday that the boat left the mouth of the 
Sandy. All night, all day Sunday, and all through Sunday night they 
kept up their struggle with the current, Garfield leaving the wheel only 
eight hours out of the whole time, and that during the day. By 9 o’clock 
Monday morning they reached the camp, and were received with 
tumultuous cheering. Garfield himself could scarcely escape from being 
borne to headquarters on the shoulders of the delighted men.” 

From this time Garfield took high rank in the estimate of those in the 
army and out. General Buell gave unstinted praise and a special com¬ 
mendation was made by the officials at Washington. Our history must 
be confined largely to his early struggles from the boy on the farm in 
Orange to the time when he became a national figure, orator, soldier, 
statesman, President of the United States. His subsequent history and 
that of his family belong to the nation and are a part of the larger annals 
that form most interesting reading. Of Amos Boynton, Uncle Boynton, 
the half brother of his father, we will speak more fully than we have done, 
before the close of this chapter. 

The first store in Orange was opened near the site of the “Bible 
Christian” Church in 1835, the name of the storekeeper who first began 
we cannot give, but about the same time or a little later a Mr. Bymont 
opened a store on the town line in Warrensville. The second store con¬ 
tinued for three or four years, and until the Village of Chagrin Falls, 
attracted the trade. In 1845 the Township of Chagrin Falls was formed 
and included in its boundaries was all that part of Orange in the first 
division of tract 3 except lots 1, 2 and 3. The area taken from Orange 
was nearly two and one-half square miles, leaving twenty-two and one- 
half square miles in the township, its present area. In marked contrast 
to Rockport on the other side of the county, Orange has not the sem¬ 
blance of a village within its borders. There is a postoffice at the Center 
and another at North Solon, but notwithstanding the fact that the latter 
is called North Solon postoffice it is in Orange. Its change from the 
pioneer, the log house era, to the frame house, the farming era, came 
about with the same rapidity as other parts of the county. By 1850 there 
was only one or two log houses in the township. The Civil war came and 
the sons of Orange went to the front and their names are recorded in 
the soldiers’ monument on the public square at Cleveland. The hardy 
farmer boys made good soldiers. After the war dairying came to be the 
principal line of the farmers, and cheese factories sprung up to manu¬ 
facture the product of the dairies. At one time there were three in the 
township, one operated by J. P. Whitlam at Orange Center, another by 
M. A. Lander, two miles southwest of the Center, and a third by David 
Sheldon on the Chagrin River, two miles east of the Center. The only 
manufacturing industries that have found their way into the township 
have been the sawmills. The mills of David Sheldon, on or near the 
Chagrin River, two miles east of the Center; of James Graham, on the 
river, close to the township line of Chagrin Falls, and of John Stoneman, 
one mile west of the Center, are associated with the early history. Near 
the North Solon postoffice a store was opened by Eldridge Morse in 1860, 
and three years later it was sold to G. C. Arnold, a son of Ralph Arnold,’ 
whose home on the farm was nearby. As elsewhere in the county, 
churches were organized early in the township and they with the schools' 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


207 


in the districts constituted the social centers as well as educational and 
religious centers of the township. Without exception this has been the 
rule in the settlement and development of all the townships, this not ex¬ 
cepted. 

A Methodist Episcopal Church was organized at Orange Center in 

1839. The first members were P. C. Gordon, Mary Gordon, Henry Gor¬ 
don, Alanson Smith, Henrietta Smith, Jesse Luce, Sophia H. Luce, 
Sophia Weller, Reese Bowell, William Case, William Ansel, Mary A. 
Ansel, Caroline Ansel, Abigail Lander, Clarissa Hennessy, William Hen- 
nessy. The first class leader was Henry Gordon. The pastor was 
Rev. Mr. Halleck. They met at schoolhouses and residences until 1868, 
when a frame church was built. Following this first minister there is a 
long line as the policy of government in this denomination requires fre¬ 
quent changes. We will only name a few of the earlier. They were 
denominated circuit preachers because serving other charges on a partic¬ 
ular circuit. Revs. William F. Wilson, Hiram Kellogg, Timothy Good¬ 
win, Lorenzo Rogers, S. C. Freer, R. H. Hurlbut, E. Lattamore, A. Fouts, 
Benjamin Excell, William Patterson, William Lunn, J. B. Hammond and 
Thomas Gray were among the number. Meetings were held on Orange 
Hill as early as 1830, but no church was organized until 1847. This small 
Methodist organization was on the Orange Center and Warrensville cir¬ 
cuit. A Bible Christian Church, Protestant Methodist, was organized in 

1840. It started under the first name, and then finding no particular 
difference in creeds, it was organized under the second name of Protestant 
Methodists, or rather it was reorganized. It then came into the Warrens¬ 
ville circuit. Rev. George Pippin was the first Bible Christian preacher, 
and then followed Revs. Hodge, Roach, Pinch, Hooper, Colwell, Wicket, 
Chapel, and Tethna. The North Orange Disciple Church was organized 
July 28, 1845, with fifteen members. The first elders were William 
T. Hutchinson and Ira Rutherford. By changes in the population its 
membership dwindled to a handful. In the same year the South Orange 
Disciple Church was organized. Amos Boynton and Z. Smith were the 
first overseers. Its history is similar to that of the same denomination 
in North Orange. The Free Will Baptist Church was organized in 1868. 
Rev. W. Whitacre was the first minister, and John Wentmore and Joseph 
A. Burns, the first deacons, and William Mills and John Wentmore the 
first trustees. In 1870 a church was built by the congregation, east of 
the North Solon postoffice. 

The schools of Orange are still in the school buildings of one room 
and located in various parts of the township for the accommodation of 
the pupils as in pioneer days, but a large central building for the central¬ 
ization of the schools is in process of construction. There are now eight 
district school buildings in use, most of them of one room. The prin¬ 
cipal of the Orange schools is B. E. Stevens. There are twelve teachers 
employed and the total enrollment of pupils in the township is 298. The 
new building will accommodate all the pupils of the township and trans¬ 
portation will be furnished as in other townships for getting the pupils 
to and from school. At present it approaches more nearly to the original 
district school system than any that we find in the county. 

As we have said, the township was organized and a government estab¬ 
lished in 1830. Among those who have served in the earlier days of the 
official life of the township are: Trustees, Eber M. Waldo, Caleb Litch, 
Edmund Mallett, Caleb Alvord, Benjamin Hardy, Thomas King, Seruyn 
Cleaveland, N. Goodspeed, James Fisher, S. Burnett, Samuel Bull, 
E. Covey, Jonathan Cole, Lawrence Huff, Isaac Eames, Wm. Luce, 
J. Witter, D. R. Smith, Frederick Mallett, William Smith, Amos Boyn- 


208 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


ton, Saxton R. Rathbun, Cyrus Phelps, Joseph Cline, M. G. Hickey, 
Cotton J. Pratt, Samuel Nettleton, H. Abell, Howard S. Allen, H. Church, 
E. Waite, Zadock Bowell, Elestus Arnold, J. D. Mapes, Benjamin Sheldon, 
Abram Tibbits, H. Deloff, Zenas Smith, E. Arnold, C. Gates, C. Cole, 
John McLane, Jason H. Luce, T. Willett, A. McVeigh, A. Jerome, 
R. Lewis, H. Baster, John Whitlock, J. Bray, P. Farr, Henry Price, 
Horace Rudd, F. Judd, E. B. Pike, William Lander, L. Sawyer, Alonzo 
Cathan, J. Burton, H. B. Boynton, Edwin Mapes, F. Rowe, D. C. Kim¬ 
ball, William Stoneman, L. Underwood, J. M. Burgess, Jedediah Burton, 
John Whitlaw, J. Baster, H. W. Gordon, J. Q. Lander, A. Stevens, C. L. 
Jackson, and Charles Thomas. Among the clerks have been: David 
Lafler, James Fisher, C. Alvord, Ansel Young, Samuel G. Harger, Michael 

G. Hickey, Henry W. Gordon, Elbridge Smith, C. J. Pratt, Cyrus Phelps, 
L. D. Williams, C. T. Blakeslee, J. Cole, C. Alvord, Thompson Willett, 

H. B. Boynton, H. W. Gordon, Charles Jackson, and Edwin Mapes. 
Treasurers, D. R. Smith, Edward Covey, Seruyn Cleaveland, Thomas 
King, William Luce, William Lander, Stephen Burnett, T. King, John 
Whitlaw, H. S. Allen, J. H. Luce, William Stoneman, Richmond Barber, 
H. B. Boynton, and H. Price. M. A. Lander served for many years as 
assessor of the township. The present officers of the township are: Jus¬ 
tice of the peace, Joseph Zoul; trustees, U. G. Teare, A. A. Ayers and 
H. G. Strick; clerk, T. W. Taylor; treasurer, Henry Miller; assessor, 
H. W. Lander; constable, Milton Kidd. 

We must take the space to give a little of the history of some of the 
families, whose members have served the township in various public posi¬ 
tions. First, the Lander and Litch families. M. A. Lander, whom we 
have mentioned, was the son of William and Eliza (Litch) Lander. His 
father was born in the Town of Marcellus, Onondaga County, New York, 
and came to Orange at an early date. Here he married Eliza Litch, who 
was a native of Orange, and named his first born Marcellus in memory 
of his native town. Marcellus or M. A. Lander, was raised on the farm, 
had a common school education, enlisted when the Civil war came on as a 
private, and rose to the rank of quartermaster sergeant, served till the end 
of the war, operated with his father and uncle one of the largest cheese 
and butter factories in the county at Orange, and then continued in the 
business as sole proprietor for a number of years, came to Cleveland and 
entered the county treasurer’s office as a deputy, became popular by reason 
of his uniform courtesy, was elected and reelected county treasurer, serv¬ 
ing the full time allowed by law. Another son of William Lander, the 
trustee, a younger son, Frank R. Lander, after the boyhood on the farm, 
a liberal and technical education, was elected county engineer, founded 
the Lander Engineering Company of Cleveland, was out of office for a 
while, and again elected to that position and is at present serving as county 
engineer and surveyor. One of his most important works, in construc¬ 
tion, is the Rocky River bridge, the concrete arch of which, at the time 
it was built, was the largest in the United States. He drew the plans for 
the Superior Street High Level bridge, with subway, a feature which he 
strongly advocated, and which has proved to be a fine thing for traffic 
The plans were revised and the construction carried out by Mr. Stinch- 
comb, his successor as county engineer. Both of these gentlemen have 
made a name reflecting great credit on themselves in that important office 
Under both administrations road construction has advanced to a point of 
efficiency never before reached in the history of the county. The Jackson 
families are identified with the history of Orange and its part in the 
fraternity of townships. Charles Jackson, born in the County of York¬ 
shire, England, and C. L. Jackson, of the same nativity, came with their 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


209 


parents, Row and Jane (Lonsdale) Jackson, to Orange in 1835. Charles 
became a republican in politics, and C. L. a democrat, but both were good 
republicans and good democrats. In the township Charles served as con¬ 
stable one year, assessor seven years, clerk eight years, and justice of the 
peace eighteen years. He also served on the Board of Education. He 
served the county as county commissioner for three successive terms. 
C. L. Jackson served as trustee of the township for three terms and held 
other public positions. He owned one of the finest farms in the township, 
comprising 248 acres. His wife was prominent in the Methodist Epis¬ 
copal Church. A son, W. W. Jackson, was the principal of the West 
Cleveland schools while that municipality was in existence, and when it 
became a part of Cleveland, Professor Jackson became a Cleveland teacher. 
The Mapes family deserve especial mention. John D. Mapes, born in 
Seneca County, New York, came to Orange in 1831. Before coming he 
married Henrietta Patchen, and the two started pioneer life on the 
Orange farm. The family grew to eight children, six of whom became 
school teachers. The oldest child was named Edwin. He served as jus¬ 
tice of the peace, and then his name read Edwin Mapes, Esquire. He 
married Mary Thorp, and their children numbered six, and four became 
successful school teachers. But school teaching was not the sole ambition 
of the members of the family, for Perry Mapes and John P. Mapes, 
grandsons of John D., made a great record in the county under the firm 
name of Mapes Brothers. Their farm in Orange became known over the 
county for its fine product of milk, cream, and maple syrup. In the mar¬ 
kets of Cleveland the label “Mapes Brothers” became known as the 
synonym of choice product. The farm became a model of attractiveness 
and beauty. And now as to Uncle Boynton. Fifty years ago B. A. Hins¬ 
dale, of Hiram College, wrote a sketch of the half brother of President 
Garfield’s father, Uncle Amos, which runs as follows: Caleb Boynton, 
father, was a native of Massachusetts. We know but little of his gene¬ 
alogy but find him in Worcester, Otsego County, New York, early in 
the nineteenth century. There he married Asenath Garfield, the widow 
of Thomas Garfield, and the mother by her two husbands of thirteen chil¬ 
dren. Four of these were Garfields, Polly, Betsey, Abram, and Thomas, 
Abram being the father of James A. Garfield. Her children by Mr. 
Boynton were: Anna, Amos, Nathan, Alpha, Calista, Jerry, William, and 
John. In 1808 he moved to Madrid, St. Lawrence County, New York. 
In 1818, in company with his son Amos, he made a winter journey in a 
sleigh to Ohio, whither he was followed by the remainder of his family 
the next spring. He made his home in Independence, Cuyahoga County, 
where he died in 1821. He was a soldier in the War of 1812. Amos 
Boynton, the second child of Caleb and Asenath, was born in Otsego 
County, New York, September 9, 1805. He lived with his father in 
Independence, and when his father died he, at the age of seventeen, started 
out to shift for himself. He was employed for some time on construction 
work on the Erie Canal, and assisted his half brother, Abram Garfield, 
in carrying out several large contracts on the Ohio Canal. October 17, 
1826, he married Alpha Ballou, a younger sister of the wife of Abram 
Garfield. These two belonged to the well known Ballou family of New 
England, their father being James Ballou of Cumberland, Rhode Island, 
and their mother Mehitable Ingalls of the Town of Richmond, New 
Hampshire. In 1829 Abram Garfield and Amos Boynton purchased a 
small farm, each, in Orange, Cuyahoga County, and on these farms 
established their families. Their homes were three miles from the pres¬ 
ent Town of Chagrin Falls, and four miles from the Village of Solon, 
but neither of these places then existed, and all around was an unbroken 


210 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


wilderness. Their nearest neighbors were the Mapes family a mile dis¬ 
tant, and the next nearest were in the north part of the township nearly 
three miles away. These two men, earnestly seconded by their devoted 
wives, fell to work to clear up their farms and to build their homes. Mr. 
Garfield lived but four years. He died in 1833, leaving four children to 
the care of their mother. Mr. Boynton lived to clear up his farm, to rear 
a family, and to see the wilderness of 1829 transformed into cultivated 
land dotted by homes of a numerous, thrifty, and happy population. But 
this struggle with nature was too much for his powers, and he was com¬ 
pelled to relinquish his business, little by little, until in the spring of 1866 
he left the farm and removed to Cleveland in search of rest, which he so 
much needed. The quest was vain, his native force was too much abated 
and he was taken with a lingering and painful illness and died December 



Garfield Memorial 


3 > .. 1 J 866 > “ his sixty-second year. Mr. Boynton had a family of seven 
children, William A., who died at the age of twenty-nine; Henry B., who 
remained on the old farm when he moved to Cleveland; Harriet A., who 
became Mrs. Clark of Bedford; Phoebe M., later Mrs. Clapp of Hiram; 

at a ' a 1J dlSt r m I Ulshed P h y sician of Cleveland; Mary C, who became 
Mrs. Arnold of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Bentley, who died at the 
age of fourteen months. Mrs. Boynton, the companion of their forty 
years of married life, survived him many years. 

Amos Boynton was of medium size, of vigorous and enduring physical 
powers, and of clear, strong and well poised mind. His opportunity for 
obtaining the education of schools was limited, being those of his time 
and state. He closely read the few books within his reach, but the one 
book that he knew was the Bible. His farm and family were the center of 
his life. He was a tireless worker, a close economist, a painstaking 
farmer He was methodical in all things to minuteness. His farm was 
the best kept in the neighborhood, his products went to market in the best 
order and commanded the best price. In his business deals he was honest 
to a farthing and required men to be equally honest with him. He had 






THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


211 


an invincible abhorrence of anything like sham or false appearance, and 
the competence that he gathered was the slow result of hard labor and 
small savings. Boundless nature lay about him. He had himself, that was 
all. He must work ceaselessly and save carefully or live in poverty. Still, 
his heart always responded to the calls of the poor, the suffering, and 
oppressed. In the community he stood a standard of truth, honesty, and 
justice. He watched carefully over his children. Aided by his wife, who 
had been a teacher, he instilled into them a desire for education, and all 
of them but the one who died in infancy were at one time teachers. He 
gave them habits of industry, implanted in their minds the great law of 
morals and the sentiments of religion. Intemperance and profanity were 
unknown in his family circle. At the death of Abram Garfield in 1833 
Mr. Boynton stood in a peculiarly close and interesting relationship to the 
family of the deceased. General Garfield gratefully recognized this obli¬ 
gation and spoke in strong terms of appreciation of the extent and kind 
of his uncle’s influence upon himself. This came partly in the way of 
wise counsel and direction but more probably in the form of that uncon¬ 
scious influence, which works so silently, yet so powerfully. The hard 
worked farmer found time to aid the young men of the neighborhood in 
organizing and maintaining a debating society and he frequently took 
part as a critic and guide in the efforts of his children and their associates 
to “think on their feet” and defend their opinions. He was frequently 
made judge of their debates and his approval was a reward worthy of 
their best efforts. His type was that created in the school of John Calvin, 
strong, deep, narrow, just, true, severe. He was one of the last of the 
Puritans. His type, the pioneer engrafted on the Puritan, is passing away, 
but before it vanishes it should be faithfully painted in all its lights and 
shadows for the benefit of posterity. 

We have given a larger mention of Uncle Boynton as a pioneer of 
Orange, first, because of his close relationship to the family and boyhood 
and young manhood of President Garfield, and second because he repre¬ 
sents in his character and life the dominant type of pioneer found in every 
township of Cuyahoga County. 


CHAPTER XVII 


SOLON 

Township 6 of range 10, Solon, has the distinction of having formed 
the organization of a civil township with the smallest list of qualified 
voters of any in the county. It may be surmised that a community that 
would select for its name that of the great Athenian lawgiver would be 
inclined to establish the form and substance of law in its midst as soon 
as possible. It seems, however, that the selection of a name was brought 
about by another consideration than that of doing honor to the memory 
of the man of Athens. In August of 1820 two families “well supplied 
with teams, household furniture, and especially children, might have been 
seen making their tedious way on rough roads from Newburgh through 
Independence to Hudson in the present County of Summit, and thence 
northeast to Aurora in what is now Portage County, where they made a 
temporary stop.” Leaving their families there, the heads of these two 
families began a thorough examination of the surrounding territory, 
searching for desirable unoccupied land. After a long search they decided 
to locate on the west part of the Williams and Ellsworth tract, which 
comprised the southern part of township 6, range 10, and was then called 
Milan, but later became the civil Township of Solon. These men were 
Capt. Jason Robbins and Samuel Bull, both originally from Wethersfield, 
Hartford County, Connecticut. They were both along in years, Mr. Bull 
was forty-five and Captain Robbins fifty-eight. Not too old to be pio¬ 
neers, they built log cabins, did some clearing and in November of that 
year of 1820, moved their families into their new homes. These were 
the first settlers in the township, and while there were only two families, 
there were sixteen children in each, so that a colony of sixteen constituted 
the first settlers. They located on an old route or trail from Pitsburg 
to Cleveland, which was used during the War of 1812, but afterward 
abandoned for another touching the more settled region of Hudson, Inde¬ 
pendence, Newburg, and other towns to Cleveland. This old road had 
become impassable by reason of falling timber, underbrush and small tim¬ 
ber. It was afterwards improved and became the direct thoroughfare 
between Solon and Aurora. When these first settlers came, their nearest 
neighbors were two miles southwest in the township of Aurora. Towards 
Cleveland they could travel, without seeing a residence to a point three 
miles from Newburg and nine miles from home. Westward it was nine 
miles to their nearest neighbor in that direction residing in the north part 
of Bedford. Of the four adult first settlers all remained in the township 
during life. Samuel Bull died in 1838 at the age of sixty-three; Mrs. 
Robbins died in 1850 at the age of seventy-seven; Captain Robbins sur¬ 
vived her two years, dying at the age of ninety years, and Mrs. Fanny 
Huntington Bull lived to be ninety-four, dying in 1872. Of her family, 
Pitkin S., Lorenzo S., and Norman A. were living in the township in the 
’80s. A son of Capt. Jason Robbins, by his first wife, Archibald, or Cap¬ 
tain Archibald, for like his father he was a sea captain, came to Solon 
some years later. His career was so full of remarkable and unusual ex¬ 
periences that we will devote some space to the recital farther on. Jason 

212 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


213 


Robbins was a sea captain for thirty years, his father before him followed 
the sea, and Archibald, the son, was likewise a sea captain. Captain Jason 
by his second wife had eight children, Honor, Sophia, Jane, Maria, Eliza, 
Walter W., Jason, Jr., and Corlenia. Walter W. married Sally Ann 
Reeves, daughter of William Reeves, an old settler of Solon. Their chil¬ 
dren were three, Cora, Grace, and Ellen. 

The third family to come to the new township was that of Oliver 
Wells. They came from the same locality in Connecticut as the first set¬ 
tlers, and located on lot 40 in the Williams and Ellsworth tract. It was 
thought by prospective settlers that land was held at too high a price in 
the township, and settlement was slow. One arrival should be noted 
shortly after the Wells family came, and that was the first white child 
born in the township, Delia Wells. After Delia the Wells family were 



Bedford Public Square Showing Town Hall and Soldiers' 
Monument 


augmented by twins, so that Mr. and Mrs. Wells were not only the 
parents of the first child but of the first pair of twins born in the town¬ 
ship. The first school teacher in the township was John Henry. He got 
$10 a month and his board. He boarded “around.” His pupils numbered 
four from the Robbins family and three from the Bull family. Bull paid 
his share of the teacher’s salary in shoemaking, and Robbins paid his in 
maple sugar. No money passed, and no pay roll robbery is recorded. 
In 1825 there were eight voters in the township, Robbins, Bull, Wells, 
P. S. Bull, John C. Carver, C. M. Leach, Thomas Marshall, and Ichabod 
Watrous. These all lived in the southern part. The eight proposed to 
have a civil township of their own. This territory at the time of their 
arrival and since had been under the government of Orange. It was 
argued that the forming of a civil township would attract immigration. 
These eight petitioned the county commissioners, and on their petition the 
commissioners erected the township and ordered an election of officers. 
As we have said, this township on the arrival of the first settlers was 
called Milan, but the petitioners had conceded to Bull and Robbins the 
privilege of selecting the name for the township about to be organized. 
They desired some name that would perpetuate on record their families 
as first settlers, but Bulltown and Robbinsburg did not appeal to them, 



214 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


and after much discussion they selected the second name of Mr. Bull’s 
second son, Lorenzo Solon Bull. The county commissioners confirmed 
the selection and thus the name of the great lawgiver, who flourished 
before the Christian era, was given to the little township in the woods of 
the Western Reserve. At the first election Jason Robbins, Samuel Bull 
and Ichabod Watrous were elected trustees; Jason Robbins, clerk; Pitkin 
S. Bull, treasurer; Pitkin S. Bull, constable; Pitkin S. Bull, overseer of the 
poor, and Oliver Wells, justice of the peace. Pitkin S. Bull was numer¬ 
ously elected. 

The wild denizens of the wood were found by the early settlers here 
in large numbers. They included deer, bear, wolf, “painter” and elk. 
The stately elk disappeared first. In 1821, the year after the first 
settlers arrived, Pitkin S. Bull and Warren Warner chased a large buck 
elk for three days through Milan (Solon) and the adjoining townships. 
It was finally killed in Northfield by another hunter, who struck the 
trail ahead of the unlucky hunters from Milan and gained the prize. This 
was the last elk seen in the township, but the other animals named re¬ 
mained for some years. 

The first settlement made in the northern part of the township was 
in 1827 by John Morse, who located near the old state road leading from 
Cleveland to Aurora and running near the Bedford line. The next that 
came were Joseph G. Patrick, Baxter Clough and Mr. Gerrish, all from 
New Hampshire. These with their families made quite a settlement and 
this road was called Hampshire road from that time on. John C. Sill 
settled in the township in 1831. About the same time that the Sills 
arrived came Walter Stannard, John Hodge and a Mr. Martle, all locat¬ 
ing in the northwest part of the township. More rapidly now the white 
man came. Reuben M. Hanford, who came in 1832 and located on 
Hampshire Street, one and one-half miles from the center of Solon, 
northwest, found not a tree cut within a mile of the Center, but William 
Pillsbury that same year bought the land around the Center. No roads 
were cleared and no wagons could be used here. There were paths 
through the woods traversed in summer and winter by ox sleds. Wil¬ 
liam W. Higby was then working in Solon but was not a freeholder. 
He became a permanent resident. In the settling up of the township 
the next to record takes us to the southeast part of the township in the 
same year, 1832. Here Elijah Pettibone, William W. Richards, C. R. 
Fletcher and John Hale, being a delegation from Pettibone, New York, 
established permanent residences and began the clearing of that section. 
The first settlers in the north part, or what is called “The Ledge,” were 
Elisha Wilmot and Albert Pond, who located there about 1833. These 
were followed by Abraham Witter, George H. Mason, Stephen Dunnell 
and Alvin Harrington, a Maine delegation. Deacon John Barnard settled 
in the township in the same year. The ground around the Center was 
low and wet and was the last portion on township 6, range 10 to be 
settled. It had in forest days a rather forbidding appearance. A story 
was related by Mr. Hanford illustrative of this appearance. The date 
of the incident was subsequent to 1833. A civil township must have a 
Center, and so several roads had been laid out with the Center as the 
apex. None were cut out but they were marked out by blazed trees. 
Mr. Hanford, having occasion to go to Twinsburg, had followed the line 
of marked trees south from the Center and was returning by the same 
route. When near the end of his homeward journey he met another man 
on horseback who was peering anxiously about trying to solve the trans¬ 
portation directions without the aid of The Cleveland Automobile Club. 
“See here, stranger,” he said on seeing Mr. Hanford, “I wish you would 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


215 


tell me which way to go to get out of this infernal town.” “Well,” said 
Mr. Hanford, “that depends upon where you want to go. This line of 
marked trees to the south leads to Twinsburg, that one to the southwest 
leads to Aurora, that one to the north leads to Orange, and that one to 

the west-” “No matter about that,” interrupted the traveler, “I just 

came from the west through that cursed swamp and I swear I don’t want 
to go that way. I don’t care where these other trails lead to either; all 
I want to know is which is the quickest way to get out of this town.” Mr. 
Hanford gave him the distance to the various points mentioned and the 
stranger selected the nearest and immediately started on at a rapid pace. 
He had scarcely gotten out of sight when the wolves were heard howling 
in the forest, a circumstance which no doubt confirmed the traveler in his 
opinion of the locality; at least it hurried Mr. Hanford forward on his 
homeward trip. 1 he first man who built a house at the Center was 
Freeman McClintock, who settled there in 1832. He lived at the Center 
for three years before near neighbors came. By 1832 practically all of 
the land in the township had been bought from the original or speculative 
owners, by actual settlers. By this time also sufficient land was cleared 
and crops raised to provide food for the community, but clearing went 
forward at a rapid rate, and attention was given to roads as a surplus 
crop must be marketed. 

In 1833 the first marriage took place in the township. The contracting 
parties were Baxter Clough and Hannah Gerrish, both of Hampshire 
Street. The officiating magistrate was Captain Jason Robbins, the second 
justice of the peace in Solon. Having steered so many voyages safely on 
the ocean, he no doubt felt confident that he could at least start this 
matrimonial craft on its way properly. The first death in the township 
was that of Mrs. Thomas Marshall, who died in 1834, fourteen years 
after the township was organized. Her body was taken to Aurora for 
burial and several who followed her in death were taken there for burial 
in after years. The first physician in the township was Dr. Alpheus 
Morrill. He came in 1834 and was the only professional man in the 
township for many years. This last statement should be modified if we 
include the preaching profession, for religion was early taught in the 
community and ministers came from time to time to encourage and 
teach. As early as 1832 the Presbyterians held meetings at Mr. Hanford’s 
house and the Methodists had • held a number of meetings in various 
meeting places. In 1834 a Presbyterian Church was organized by the 
New Englanders of Hampshire Street and a year or so later the first 
church building was erected at the Center. This was the second frame 
building in the town and on account of the wet ground was set up on 
stilts or high posts as a health precaution. Of these churches we will 
speak later, giving some of the early members and pastors. 

Sam Weller, the philosopher of Pickwick Papers, said: “I have 
noticed it as a werry particular and oncommon circumstance that verever 
you see a sausage shop you never see no dogs.” This vague connection 
comes to mind in going over the annals of Solon and noting the fact 
that when the first doctor came to town in 1834 the bears (shall we say 
instinctively?) left. This joke loses its force when it is related that 
the bears did not move away but were killed. Four were killed that 
year, one by Thomas Marshall, one by S. S. Bull, one by William W. 
Higby and the fourth, a very large one weighing 400 pounds and the 
last in the township, by Jason Robbins, Jr. Deer hunting continued long 
after the bears became extinct. The young men were rivals in that direc¬ 
tion but William W. Higby stood at the head as the best deer hunter in 
the township. He was excelled, however, by Hiram Spofiford of Bedford, 



< IIYAIM )GA ( t >1JN'l V AND 


:Mii 

who iitmlnl in (lie township hill was a resident of Medford, Neither of 
these men considered il a very remarkable feat lo kill from nix to eight 
fat deei in a day. ()f lesser gator, such an raccoons, wild litrkcys, etc., 
they killed hundreds Of the rattlesnakes, that were a menace to the 
pioneei invasion nil ovei the comity, many stories are told hnt no fatali- 
ties are rcrurdrd, except to the snakes. 

Solon exported three commodities in the early years that relieved 
the stringency of the money market maple sugar and syrup, black salts, 
made, as we have already related, from ashes lye, leached from the 
abundance of that product m clearing the land, and deer skins. Their 
market was Ncwburg, drain was unsalable, as transportation cost as 
much as it was worth in the market, I lie problems that confronted the 
pioneers are still before the farmers of the great West. In the marketing 
of maple sugar and syrup, each man who had a surplus would load 
up for Newburg 01 ( levelund I lie trip with ox team and wagon occupied 
two days. They would lake along a pair of steelyards and drive from 
house to house, selling from ten to fifty pounds in a place. Sometimes 
a barrel o! sugar would he sold in one place and then the Solon farmer 
considered himself a wholesaler, In the tide of humanity that poured 
into the Western Reserve there were many young bachelors who came 
individually and not with families, A considerable number of these de¬ 
tached individuals came to Solon, The method of these home founders 
was to make a clearing, build a log cabin, surround it with a garden of 
vegetables and (lowers, and then repair to the nearest settlement, hunt up 
a good looking girl and court her with persistent energy. Ami they were 
usually success I ul in gaining the object of their selection. As Aurora 
in Portage ( ouuty was the oldest settled township in the vicinity and most 
convenient ol access, and was blessed with an ample supply of "hand¬ 
some, agreeable and industrious" young ladies, the young bachelor pioneers 
of Solon, led by the God Hymen, would repair to that town and with 
eminent success, A larger percentage of pioneei mothers id' Solon came 
from Aurora than from any other town. 

Alter the building id' the Presbyterian Church at the Center, it was 
difficult for the ministers to land their way to the house id' the Lord 
through the thinly populated woods of Solon. There was no resident 
minister. Professor Reuben Nutting, of Western Reserve College, Mud 
sou, who occasionally preached there, got belated one cool Saturday night 
in the fall while on his way there, and got completely lost within a mile 
of his destination, lie wandered around for some time and finally became 
satisfied that he must wait for daylight, lie was a believer in the in¬ 
junction that one must keep his feet warm and his head cool in sleeping, 

lit* had no trouble with the latter proposition, for it was a cold night. 
Ihit as to the I eel. After hitching his horse to a tree, lit* cut his comforter 
in two, wrapped the halves about his feet, put a foot in each saddle hag, 
where rep wed the sermon, and slept in the. dryest place he could lind. 
The next morning, much exhausted, he found his way to the meeting 
house, but was too much usyd up to preach, lie recovered sufficiently, 
however, to preach in the afternoon, showing the pioneer spirit. It was 
not until 1840 that Solon was far enough advanced to support a store. 
I he first store in the town was opened that year by ( apt. Archibald 

Robbins, son of ('apt. Jason Robbins, the fust settler, ( apt. Archibald, 

the son, came many years after the father, (apt, Jason, It seems appro¬ 
priate here to discuss the dramatic history of this sea captain, son of a 
sea captain, who was the first settler of Solon, id' l apt. Archibald Robbins, 
who settled down as the first storekeeper of Solon, enamored of its (juiet, 
unevent till hut attractive reaction Irom a lilt' Idled with most uncommon 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


217 


experiences. 1 wo books in the Cleveland Public Library cover much of 
this history, one a large illustrated volume of over 600 pages, by Capt. 
James Riley, under whom Captain Robbins once served as a seaman, 
and another by Capt. Archibald Robbins himself. In his book Captain 
Robbins relates that he was born in the town of Wethersfield, Connecti¬ 
cut, a pleasant and fertile town situated on the west side of the Connecticut 
River, that the date of his birth was November 19, 1792. He remained 
at home until twelve years of age, when he went to Middlebury, Vermont, 
in which town he relates is situated a university which begins to rank 
among the first in New England. He thus spent three winters in getting 
a common school education. At the age of fifteen he was employed as 
a sailor on a vessel partly owned by his father. On the fourth voyage, 
which was in 1813, and during the War of 1812, he was captured by the 
British frigate Surprise and landed at St. Bartholomew, a neutral port. 
After some time he was returned by a cartel to New York. On a fifth 
voyage from New Haven the vessel was captured by a British squadron 
and he was taken to Halifax. He was there about two months but 
apparently was not confined as a prisoner and took passage on a Swedish 
vessel for St. Bartholomew, having entrusted to his care certain merchan¬ 
dise by merchants of New York. On the return trip he was captured by 
the British brig Borer and again sent to Halifax. Here he was confined 
as a prisoner on the island of Melville until the close of the war. After 
getting home from prison he found himself familiar with only one occu¬ 
pation and he shipped as a sailor on a new vessel, the brig Commerce, under 
the command of Capt. James Riley. The first mate was George Williams, 
second mate Aaron R. Savage, and the crew consisted of William Porter, 
Thomas Burns, James Clark and himself. They sailed for New Orleans 
with a small cargo, the object being to get freight for the foreign market. 
At New Orleans they took on a cargo of flour and tobacco for Gibraltar. 
They landed in Gibraltar in just forty-five days. Here they took on 
a cargo of brandy and wine for New York and were wrecked on the 
African coast between twenty-six and twenty-seven north latitude. This 
occurred about 10 o’clock at night, August 28, 1814. It is the details of 
the wreck and the subsequent experiences of the officers and crew that 
are set forth in the two volumes mentioned. While the boat lay helpless 
on a reef, Captain Riley, who had reached shore in a small boat, was 
seized by the natives, a wild tribe on the Barbary coast. His life was 
saved by the sending of a bucket full of gold coin from the vessel, but 
this was only temporary, as the natives were treacherous and attempted 
to hold him longer, but he escaped by plunging into the sea and returned 
to the vessel, which was rapidly breaking up. The sufferings of the crew 
as they attempted to escape in the long-boat are told, how they sailed for 
seven days, suffering from hunger and thirst, and finally landed on the 
coast of Africa but farther south. Here they were captured by a tribe 
of Arabs and made slaves. They were divided up and Robbins became 
the slave of Ganus. He kept something of a record and fixes the date 
of the beginning of his slavery at September 8, 1815. This was on the 
Desert of Sahara. He relates that his master led him off to the camels 
stationed at a small distance in the keeping of two young women, who 
afterwards proved to be his sisters. The details of his suffering are 
most harrowing. He tied knots in a string to keep track of the flays. 
The Arabs were all Mohammedan and their slaves were Christian dogs. 
After eighteen days as a slave, this free-born son of New England as 
sumed to have been converted to Mohammedanism, but it only mitigated 
in some degree his condition. Williams and Barrett were stolen from 
their masters by other Arabs but recovered, for it was said a slave was 
about the only piece of property that an Arab would not give up. The 


218 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


slaves were not permitted to have much clothing, but his master per¬ 
mitted Robbins to use the colors of the brig. Robbins cut a hole in the 
flag so that it would slip over his head and form a cloak and said this 
was the first American flag ever hoisted on the Sahara Desert. Escape 
was impossible, as death by thirst was as sure as would have been death 
by drowning in attempting to escape in mid-ocean. Various white slaves 
would often meet on the desert and Robbins met a Spaniard who had 
been a slave seven years. Robbins’ second master was Mahomet Meaarah 
and his mistress Fatima. When sold, Ganus had taken off his trousers 
and the new master expressed the same resentment that the purchaser of 
a horse might have if the original owner tried to keep the halter. At 
this time he lived mostly on wild locusts. Meaarah was not a nomad and 
lived near the ocean. He was next sold by Meaarah to a wandering Arab, 
whose name was Hamet Webber and went with a caravan. By this time 
he had learned the habits and language of the Arabs, and to show the 
adaptability of the New Englander was comparatively happy, except that 
he was a slave. The previous hardships and privations made his present 
lot seem exceedingly pleasant. He was sold by Hamet Webber to a 
chief named Bel Cossim, who already had five black slaves and several 
wives. This transaction was consummated at a town called the capital 
of the Sahara. Here he found a shipmate, Porter, who had become the 
slave of a wealthy merchant and had begun negotiations for a ransom. 
He was here eleven months. Bel Cossim had been the owner of many 
white slaves, whom he had held for large ransoms. An Arab of a tribe 
called Shilluh began negotiations for the purchase of Robbins. Bel 
Cossim offered to sell for $200, but the Shilluh only offered $150. Bel 
Cossim said the money was sent for a ransom, but the Shilluh said he 
only wanted to buy Robbins for his own slave. Cossim came down to 
$175, but the Shilluh rode off. The Shilluh country was under the 
dominion of the Emperor of Morocco, and at Mogadore, a seaport town 
of Morocco, there lived an English merchant by the name of Willshire, 
who had become very wealthy and used his wealth in freeing many of 
the white slaves. As soon as he heard of one among the Arab tribes he 
began negotiations for his ransom. Robbins wrote to Mr. Willshire and 
to the Spanish Consul at Mogadore. The Shilluh, it seems, was an agent 
of Mr. Willshire, and he returned and completed the purchase or ransom. 
He was only negotiating with the thought of getting the best bargain 
possible. The book of Captain Riley was published in 1817 and was 
widely read at the time. Captain Robbins’ book was published in 1851, 
after he had lived for many years the quiet life in the new township 
where he was honored and respected. He followed the sea for many 
years after the shipwreck and slavery, was in chief command of various 
vessels. He kept store at Chagrin Falls for a few years and then came 
to Solon, where he died in 1859 at the age of sixty-seven. Besides his 
store at the Center, he conducted an ashery where he made black salts and 
pearl ash, which brought money to the growing township. 

By 1840 pioneer times seems to have ended and the township of 
Solon took on the appearance of a cultivated country. Frame houses 
took the place of log ones, as in other townships, roads and byroads were 
improved and made more passable. The ox team was still much used, but 
horses attached to light vehicles were seen and were beginning to be used 
in the heavy farm work. The wild denizens of the wood had given place 
to flocks and herds of the farmer. Matches were used instead of the 
tinder box and the family album appeared on the parlor table with family 
pictures done in chemicals. A small village grew up at the Center, 
where the farmers sold a portion of their products; the market of growing 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


219 


Cleveland took more. There was a steam sawmill at the Center before the 
Civil war, built by John Anderson, which was later owned by John Cowen. 
Later another was operated in connection with a cheese box factory by 
Calvin Gilfert. When the Civil war came the first detachment of re¬ 
cruits from Solon joined the Twenty-third Ohio, President Hayes’ regi¬ 
ment, then Colonel Hayes. Each man was presented on leaving with a 
pistol by the patriotic ladies of Solon. An incident growing out of this 
presentation of pistols shows with what intense favor these gifts were 
regarded. Corporal Sheridan E. Bull, son of Lorenzo Bull, was seriously 
wounded at Antietam. He fell just as the regiment was compelled to give 
way before a sudden assault of the enemy. He carried one of the pistols 
which he had marked with his initials S. E. Bull. Seeing the enemy 
advance, he hastily dug a hole and buried it where he was stretched upon 
the ground. One of his comrades noticed the act and made a survey 
of landmarks around the spot. Both men were captured and Bull died 
in prison from his wounds. The other soldier, named Henry, recovered 
and was exchanged. Sixteen years later Mr. Henry, then principal of the 
public schools at Coshocton, Ohio, revisited the battlefield, located the 
spot where the pistol was buried and dug it up. The rusty weapon was 
sent to L. S. Bull, who was at that time postmaster at Solon. 

An important event in the development of Solon was the building 
diagonally through the township of the Cleveland branch of the Atlantic 
& Great Western Railway. The depot, which was built a short distance 
northwest of the Center, soon drew the village in that direction. In 1878 
a narrow gauge railroad was built from Chagrin Falls to Solon. As 
indicating the growth of the town, at this time Solon Center had four 
general stores, one drug store, one tin shop, one hotel, two blacksmith 
shops, one shoe shop and one steam sawmill. 

As has been stated, a Congregational or Presbyterian Church was 
organized in Solon in 1834. This was brought about by Rev. John Seward 
of Aurora. The first members were Joseph and Amanda Patrick, hus¬ 
band and wife; Baxter and Hannah Clough, husband and wife; Samuel 
and Betsey Gerrish, husband and wife; John Moore, his mother and 
sister Prudence; Asa and Susan Stevens, husband and wife; R. M. and 
Nancy Hanford, husband and wife; William Pillsbury and wife and 
Horace Merry. Asa Stevens was one of the first deacons. Before the 
frame church was built the meetings were held at the house of Mrs. Morse, 
northwest of the Center. For eleven years the church had no settled 
pastor, the pulpit being filled by students from Western Reserve College 
and by readers. In 1845 the organizer, Rev. John Seward, became the 
permanent pastor. Rev. James Webster was pastor in the ’80s. The 
Discinles of Solon held meetings in 1840 and November 29th of the 
following year a church was organized with thirteen members.. Among 
the ministers who have for a shorter or longer time served this church 
have been: J. H. Rhoads, T. H. Tones. T. B. Knowles, James A. Garfield, 
H. W. Everest, John Smith, O. C. Hill, John Atwater, A. B. Green and 
C. W. Henrv. Among the elders have been L. S. Bull and H. P. Bovnton 
and C. S. Carver. T. H. Baldwin, M. J. Roberts and W. W. Robbins 
have served as deacons and F. H. Baldwin, W. W. Robbins and J. J. Little 
as trustees. The Methodist Church that began holding meetings at the 
Ledge in 1840, and then in the schoolhouse at the Center, built a house 
of worship in 1854. Among the pastors have been Reverends Vernon, 
R. Latimer and Burgess. 

The names of the trustees of the township who have served in the 
first sixty years of the civil life of the township include some family 
names known over the county; Samuel Glasier, James M. Hickox, Jarvis 


220 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


McConoughy, William Higby, Ralph Russell, S. M. Hickox, J. S. Patrick, 
Theodore S. Powell, Morris Bosworth, Obadiah B. Judd, Ebenezer Gove, 
Daniel Morse, Caleb R. Fletcher, Joel Seward, Simeon T. Shepard, San¬ 
ford H. Bishop, S. H. Smith, W. W. Richards, L. S. Bull, H. W. Hart, 
E. Cook, C. R. Fletcher, Simon Norton, Henry E. March, Leander Cham¬ 
berlin, William R. Sill, Richard Dewey, Francis Pettibone, Robert Smith, 
C. R. Smith, W. W. Robbins, Orris B. Smith, Dexter McClintock, Cal¬ 
vin T. Reed, Augustus Pettibone, R. M. Hanford, C. H. Baldwin, H. N. 
Slade, James Webster, Alfred Stevens, Royal Taylor, Jr and J. N. 
Blackman. Of the clerks who served in the first half century and more 
we can mention Capt. Archibald Robbins, Joseph G. Patrick, John M. 
Hart, H. W. Hart, L. S. Bull, John Deady, William R. Robbins, S. B. 
Smith, L. Chamberlin, G. G. Hickox, Alfred D. Robbins, A. M. Smith, 
J. M. Hickox, J. S. Chamberlin, W. F. Hale, R. K. Merrill, W. F. Han¬ 
ford, F. A. Hale and A. H. Chamberlin. Of the treasurers of the town¬ 
ship since its organization may be noted Freeman McClintock, Reuben M. 
Hanford, Seymour Trowbridge, Asa Stevens, Joel Seward, S. T. 
Shepard, Capt. Archibald Robbins, J. M. Hickox, John M. Hart, J. G. 
Patrick, William B. Price, William K. Ricksecker, C. B. Lockwood, Hiram 
Chapman, R. K. Merrill, A. D. Robbins, E. C. Blackman, L. L. Chamber¬ 
lin, R. W. Collins, W. F. Hale, Erskene Merrill and W. C. Lawrence. 
The present officers of the township are: Justice of the peace, Ralph Blue; 
trustees, L. S. Harrington, O. R. Arnold and W. A. Hawkins; clerk, H. E. 
Gildard; treasurer, E. D. Rhodes; assessor, C. H. Craemer; constable, 
C. M. Hickox. 

Of some of the early officers some notice biographical would be appro¬ 
priate in this connection. Royal Taylor was born in Aurora, Portage 
County, October 5, 1812. His father, Worthy Taylor, was a native of 
Blanford, Massachusetts, and was a soldier in the War of 1812. His 
grandfather was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The Taylors came 
to Aurora in 1806. An uncle, Col. Royal Taylor, was an officer in the 
War of the Rebellion. Royal Taylor came to Solon in 1843, cleared a 
farm of 233 acres and was thirty years in the dairy and stock and later 
in real estate. He married three times. James W. Harper was born in 
Orange township and was educated in the district schools of that township. 
He manufactured cheese in Solon for many years. He was the son of 
James and Sarah Harper, born near Belfast, Ireland. He has eight 
children. Jacob Strohm was the son of Michel and Barbara Strohm. 
Jacob was a soldier in the Civil war and came to Solon in 1868. He was 
appointed postmaster of Solon in 1893. Robert Thompson, another soldier 
in the Civil war, was born in Solon in 1844. His parents were Christopher 
and Elizabeth Thompson. The father was from Yorkshire and the 
mother from Durham, England. They lived in a log cabin for a number 
of years. James Potter was the son of Thomas Potter, who came to 
Solon in 1836. He is of Scotch-Irish descent. His log house stood in 
a small clearing of two or three acres and all about was a dense wilderness. 
His family consisted of nine children: Eliza, Robert, Jane, Thomas, 
W. J., Andrews, James, Henry, and an adopted daughter, Angeline G. 
Potter. James Potter II and Thomas Potter were soldiers in the 
Civil war. Thomas was a quartermaster and was under Sherman in his 
march from Atlanta to the sea. Thomas Potter, Sr., besides being a 
farmer, was a stone mason and worked on the Weddel house when that 
historic structure was built. For years he worked for William Hutchins 
doing stone work in the county. He died at the age of eighty-one years. 
The Morrison family should be mentioned. Perry Morrison and his 
father, John Morrison, and his mother, Lucy Perry Morrison. Both of 
Perry Morrison’s grandfathers were soldiers in the War of 1812. We 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


221 


have already given something of the biography of Capt. Archibald Rob¬ 
bins and his father, Capt. Jason Robbins. 

One village has been formed from the territory of Solon. It was 
formed from territory constituting the southwest corner of the township 
originally and is called Glenwillow. There are two methods under the 
statute for the organization of villages, one by petition to the county com¬ 
missioners and the other by petition to the trustees of the township from 
whose territory the village is to be formed. In the latter case a vote of 
the qualified electors residing in the territory, which is to constitute 
the village, must be taken and a majority found in favor of the project. 
Under the first method the commissioners must find that the petition 
contains all the matter required, that its statements are true, that the name 
proposed is appropriate, that the limits of the proposed corporation are 
accurately described and are not unreasonably large or small, that the map 
of the plat is accurate, that the persons whose names are signed to the peti¬ 
tion are electors residing in the territory, that notice has been given as 
required, and that there is the requisite population for the proposed cor¬ 
poration, before they make the order. The township trustees, under the 
law, must receive a petition signed by at least thirty electors of the terri¬ 
tory from which the village is to be formed, a majority of whom shall be 
freeholders. If the village proposed includes territory from more than 
one township the application must be made to the trustees in the township 
where a majority of such inhabitants reside. This petition must contain 
a request for an election. The township, satisfied that all the provisions 
pertaining thereto have been complied with, or rather the township trus¬ 
tees, must order an election for ascertaining the opinion of the voters on 
the question of forming a village, and, if that carries, then they must order 
an election for village officers. 

Glenwillow Village was formed by petition to the trustees and vote 
of the resident voters. J. D. Davis, S. Orchard and C. A. Roselle were 
the township trustees. The petition was filed December 18, 1913, and 
contained thirty-seven signatures. W. O. Avery was named as agent 
of the petitioners and the number of residents in the proposed village 
was stated to be 150. An election was held and the vote was for the 
village. Village officers were elected in 1914 as follows: Mayor, W. O. 
Avery; clerk, A. Balder; treasurer, J. W. Davis; councilmen, Frank 
Parmelee, S. D. Stolifer, L. D. Yonker, William Knox, W. E. Sheets 
and L. C. Wills; marshal, August Arndt; board of education, J. D. Davis, 
George Haster, William McGregor, Amanda Balder and Hattie Avery, 
being officers of the board for the separate school district of Glenwillow. 
In this new village was located the Austin Powder Company and a large 
number of the signers of the petition were employees and officers of that 
company. The present officers of the village are: Mayor, W. O. Avery; 
clerk, A. Balder; treasurer, E. A. Snyder; assessor, Ed Boose; justice 
of the peace, Arthur E. Smith; councilmen, T. C. Wells, William 
McGregor, F. Parmelee, Henry Koch, George Haster and John Resabek. 

The district schools of Solon are now all abolished and the centraliza¬ 
tion that is practically accomplished throughout the county is completed. 
The schools are in one building at Solon Center. There are eleven 
teachers employed and 250 pupils enrolled. The superintendent is J. J. 
Deets. In the graduating class of the junior high school, which includes 
the seventh and eighth grades, this year there are fourteen and in the 
graduating class of the high school there are twelve. The special school 
district of Glenwillow has two teachers and an enrollment of forty-five. 
Although not yet officially accomplished, Glenwillow schools are soon to 
become a part of the Solon schools and are already under the supervision 
of J. J. Deets. 



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CHAPTER XVIII 


CHAGRIN FALLS 

The township of Chagrin Falls, one of the smallest in the state, is 
so closely allied with the Village of Chagrin Falls that it is difficult to 
separate them, although the township was formed some years before the 
political organization of the village. It is not one of the originally 
surveyed townships of the Western Reserve, but was formed in March, 
1845, from parts of Solon, Orange, and a portion of territory from 
Geauga County. The village was not recorded as such until January, 
1858, when the plat was recorded in the office of the county recorder. 
Chagrin Falls is seventeen miles southeast of Cleveland on the Chagrin 
River. The river here has a fall of 150 feet and thus furnishes excellent 
water power. The name Chagrin was originally applied to the river, then 
to the present Village of Willoughby in Lake County, and then with the 
word “falls” added to the township and village of Chagrin Falls. Local 
histories differ as to the origin of the name. Harvey Rice in his book on 
Moses Cleveland relates that Moses Cleveland and his surveying party 
entered this river supposing it to be the Cuyahoga and finding it more 
shallow than he had expected and what with sand bars and trouble and 
delays he was much perplexed, and finding it another than the river looked 
for, named it Chagrin as an expression of his chagrin at his mistake, but 
on maps issued before the Revolution this river is distinctly named Chagrin, 
from an Indian name “Shagrin” and in another record “Shaguin,” mean¬ 
ing clear. On Evans’ map, published in 1755, it is called the Elk River, 
this no doubt from the presence of elk about its borders, a few remaining 
when the first settlers of Solon came, as we have related. 

In the account of the early settlements we will refer to the territory 
now included in Chagrin Falls township and village. In the month of May, 
1815 immediately after the War of 1812, Serenus Burnet brought his wife 
and small son Stephen and located on the west side of the Chagrin River 
about two miles north of the present village of Chagrin Falls. He built a 
log house and became the first resident. Their nearest neighbors were in 
the Covert neighborhood, near Willson’s Mills, in the present township of 
Mayfield. For nearly a year after the family came Mrs. Burnet did not 
see the face of a white woman. Mr. Burnet had bought a fine farm con¬ 
sisting mostly of river bottom land. He paid only $2 an acre but 
the owners felt that they had made a good sale as for a long time the Bur¬ 
net’s were the only residents in the valley. In fact this part of the valley 
settled up slowly in the next ten years. Between 1820 and 1825 Jacob 
Gillett, Caleb Alson, and James Fisher, came with their families and settled 
in the neighborhood. It was not until 1826 that any settlement was made 
in the vicinity of the present village. Then John Woodward and Benjamin 
Carpenter built a dam across the river and at one end built a small log 
gristmill. The stones were drawn by eight yoke of oxen from an older 
mill in Orange Township. The condition of the roads can be inferred from 
this incident. In 1827 Gen. Edward Paine, who owned the land in Chagrin 
Falls west of Franklin Street undertook to build a bridge across the river 
at the falls. He put four stringers across but the work was never corn- 

223 


224 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


pleted. The stringers remained and were used for foot passage. This 
was found very convenient by hunters and others who did not fear to 
undertake the precarious passage. The falls were then flowing- over shelv¬ 
ing rock which has since been blasted away. Busy with clearing their 
farms the early settlers, who were not capitalists, gave little attention to 
the conservation of power in the river. In 1831 Rev. Adamson Bentley, a 
Disciple minister of local reputation, then forty-six years of age, bought a 
large tract of land at the junction of the two branches of the river. He 
moved to that point and began active operations. He built a sawmill and 
a gristmill a little below the forks. To these he added a carding machine 
and cloth dressing establishment and began the industrial life of the settle¬ 
ment there which took the name of Bentleyville. For over twenty years 
Bentleyville flourished and seemed likely to be the principal business center 
and village of this section. But in 1833 two other villages were started on 
the Chagrin River, one of which in the passing years has drawn to it the 
business of the others and become a flourishing, enterprising, exclusive, in 
its location, and most interesting town, Chagrin Falls. In 1833 the part of 
the present village east of Franklin Street was in the Township of Russell 
in Geauga County. The part west of that street was in Orange and a small 
part in the southwest corner was in Solon. The land in Geauga County 
was owned by Aristarchus Champion of Rochester, New York, that in 
Orange by Edward Paine, the founder of Painesville, but then living in 
Chardon, Geauga County. In this year of 1833 one Noah Graves, a 
Massachusetts yankee, observing the excellent water power here and on 
the lookout for a good investment spotted this as the site of a future town 
and bought two hundred and ten acres from Gen. Edward Paine. For 
this he paid two thousand dollars, considered a big price and a large real 
estate transaction in those days. Dr. S. S. Handerson was connected with 
Graves in the enterprise. These men then began as did Moses Cleveland, 
at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, by laying out a city. Streets and lots were 
laid out in regular order and the lots placed upon the market, then they 
made preparation for building mills. This was the logical procedure, for 
the home and the mill are closely associated, one can not exist without the 
other. No houses were built on the present site of the village till 1834, 
when Noah Graves, Dr. S. S. Handerson, Chester Bushnell, Napoleon 
Covill, and Ebenezer Wilcox, all having families, built and settled in the 
new city. Another family was added in October of that year, that of 
Henry Church. It may be said in passing that Mr. Church remained in the 
town during his life and at the time of his death was the oldest person in 
the township of the original pioneers. At the start only three families had 
frame houses, those of the promoters, Graves and Handerson, and that of 
Ebenezer Wilcox. Mr. Wilcox lived in the home of his brother-in-law, 
Mr. Graves, Coville lived in a log house, while the residence of Julius 
Higgins, nearby was designated as a shanty. In that year of 1834 Chester 
Bushnell built a frame barn, or a combination of barn and tavern. It was 
two stories. He lived with his family in the upper part and accommodated 
guests there and stabled horses below. This site was later occupied by the 
Union House. The residence part of the town established, the industrial 
life began. Noah Graves built a dam across the river that year and the 
following year a sawmill went up. Henry Church countered and opened a 
blacksmith shop, the first in the town. His partner was Luther Graves, a 
nephew of Noah, who came to town with Mr. Church. Thus the town 
forum and news exchange, as well as a most necessary industry was estab¬ 
lished. I. A. Foote came to the village in the early part of 1834. When 
he came there were only two frame houses built, those of Graves’ and 
Hart’s. There was no bridge across the river, except Paine’s old stringers. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


225 


Ira Sherman came soon after. When they came there was an old deer 
“lick” near where the upper papermill was later located and there were 
bark hammocks in the tops of large low beech trees where the Indians had 
been accustomed to lie in wait for the deer as they came to lick the salty 
waters and stones. The mineral was in evidence on the surface of the 
water and on the stones of the river banks. Both Indians and deer had 
abandoned the “lick” when the white man came. Deer were plentiful in 
the town however and many were killed. A. H. Hart and Henry Church 
were among the most successful hunters. Another year and the new city 
boomed. Several new houses and the sawmill had been built and clearings 
made for some distance around the homes. And now the residents awak¬ 
ened to the need of better roads. Business was hampered. Mr. Church 
went to Solon for a bag of wheat, carried it on his back to Bentley’s log 
gristmill on the river, and then carried the grist home to Chagrin Falls. 
The gristmill built at the Falls in 1836 made it unnecessary to go elsewhere 
for grinding, but the wheat had to be brought over bad roads. The year 
of 1836 ushered in the era of “flush times.” As a remedy for the rather 
depressed business times of 1833 and 1834, Congress in 1836 authorized 
the Secretary of the Treasury to distribute all the public funds, except five 
millions of dollars, among the several states, according to their representa¬ 
tion. The immediate result of this increased facility for obtaining bank 
loans especially in real estate brought about a spirit of speculation in the 
country, which, as one writer expresses it, amounted to a mania. A hun¬ 
dred cities were founded and a thousand villages laid out on broad sheets 
of paper and made the basis of large money transactions. After the 1st of 
January, 1837 this money was removed from the banks and overtrading 
and speculation suddenly checked. Then came many failures. It has been 
said that during the flush times paper money was as free as water and 
unbounded riches were expected by everybody. Men were ready to engage 
in any enterprise. It was at this time that the third village in Chagrin 
Falls Township was born. Gen. James Griffith discovered a power site on 
the Aurora branch of Chagrin River and bought the upper part of it. Ten 
men, mostly from Aurora, bought the lower part. Aurora is the extreme 
northeast township of Portage County. General Griffith built a sawmill 
and he and the others planned a village to be called Griffithsburg, which 
like Bentleyville was within the present limits of Chagrin Falls. Capt. 
Archibald Robbins, whose tragic career we have referred to in the chapter 
on Solon, bought an interest in Griffithsburg, built a store there and re¬ 
mained some three or four years. Thus at one time we had three rival 
villages in Chagrin Falls, and Bentleyville was in the lead for some years. 
John Oviatt came there in 1835 and built a trip-hammer shop where he 
made scythes, axes, and many other tools in quite large quantities. This 
industry continued for five years. About the time that Oviatt came 
William Brooks built a tannery. In 1834 or 1835 Reverend Bentley built 
a store there and this was the first store opened in the limits of the present 
township of Chagrin Falls. In 1835 Dr. Justus H. Vincent located in the 
northwest corner of Bainbridge, then in Geauga County. He was the first 
physician who practiced in Chagrin Falls. He must have moved there, for 
in 1840 and 1841 he was a member of the State Legislature from Cuyahoga 
County. This was when Thomas Corwin was governor. Doctor Vincent 
was public spirited and active in promoting the interests of the Falls. 
Among other things he secured a charter for a bank at Chagrin halls, but 
the bank never materialized. As a reminder of this effort a shanty set in 
the side of a hill was called the bank and the resident was dubbed the 
“cashier ” 

In March of 1836 the first religious society in the township was formed. 


226 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


It was called The First Congregational Society of Morense. There was 
a disposition to call the new township Morense but this idea was aban¬ 
doned. A year before this, that is in 1835, a charter was obtained for a 
college, to stand on College Hill. This was secured by enterprising citi¬ 
zens who saw into the future and illustrated the attitude of mind that the 
church and the school should go hand in hand. While the college, like 
the bank, did not materialize, education did, for in this year the first dis¬ 
trict school was taught in the township. Miss Almeda Vincent was the 
first teacher. She was afterwards Mrs. Aaron Bliss, and was later a resi¬ 
dent of Chicago, Illinois. Her husband opened the first store in the village 
in 1836. It was first opened in the barroom of the tavern but soon after 
Bliss built a store at the corner of Main and Orange streets. Soon after 
he opened his store B. H., and H. S. Bosworth engaged in the same busi¬ 
ness. Other changes took place. Joshua Overton and a Mr. Bennett 
bought and occupied the tavern, William Fay started a shingle machine, 
Charles Waldron, and William Pratt were shoemakers, William McGlas- 
han, and Dudley Thorp were in the tailoring business; George Fenkel was 
building a gristmill; Henry Smith was an active stone mason, and Caleb 
Earl was building a clothing shop. The gristmill was running by winter, 
and new residents were fast coming in. It was a boom town. Among 
those who came on the crest of the boom were James Bosworth, and wife, 
and sons, Freeman, Sherman, Milo, and Philetus, and sons-in-law, Jason 
Matthews, Robert Barrow, Justus Taylor, Justus Benedict, T. N. West, 
Samuel Graham, and Timothy Osborn, all with families. A family gather¬ 
ing would have been a large convention. Other families who came at this 
time were those of Huron Beebe, Roderick Beebe, William Church, and 
Zopher Holcomb. In the midst of this boom the first Fourth of July cele¬ 
bration was held. The orator of the day was the celebrated Sidney Rigdon. 
Just at this time he was much in the limelight, his career had partaken of 
the spectacular. He was an orator of wonderful power, a convincing de¬ 
bater, one who could sway a multitude and carry them with him even to the 
point of making “black appear white or white black.” While pastor of the 
Baptist Church at Kirtland his fame as an orator had spread. While in 
that capacity he adopted the doctrines of Alexander Campbell and at once 
lent his peculiar genius and powers to expounding that religion and brought 
all, or nearly all, of his Baptist congregation over to the Disciple faith. 
There was at this time a large and influential Baptist Church at Mentor 
and when in 1826 the pastor, Rev. Warren Goodell, died, Rigdon, a Camp- 
bellite, was called to preach the funeral sermon. His address so pleased 
the congregation that he was engaged as their pastor, in the fall of 1826. 
Here as in Kirtland he gradually brought the entire congregation over to 
the new faith. He occasionally preached at the Kirtland Church as well 
His preaching now took a new turn and he began to branch off upon com- 
mon stock, or applied socialism. This did not take, in Mentor, but kindled 
aZC Isaac Morley was the first convert, a large landowner 

there. He was so enthusiastic that he threw open his doors to all who 
chose to enter and make this their common home. Many came and among 
them the ignorant and profligate. In a short time the family numbered 
1U0. While this fanaticism was taking root in Kirtland a deeper 
plot was ripening at Palmyra, New York, and Sidney Rigdon’s was the 
directing mind. Rigdon was frequently absent for weeks at a time from 

2r et ^ r and !* 1S last return f rom a lon g absence he brought copies of 
the Mormon Bible or Book of Mormon. The revelation had been received 
on gold plates and translated by Joseph Smith. Rigdon immediately began 
expounding the glories of the Latter Day Saints in numerous sermons and 
speeches. That religion had not then adopted polygamy, and Rigdon, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


227 


known as an eloquent speaker, was invited to deliver the oration at Chagrin 
Falls July 4, 1836. He accepted and among other glowing sentences pre¬ 
dicted that there would soon be one great city extending from Chagrin 
Falls to Kirtland, fifteen miles north, all inhabited by the Saints of the 
Lord. His speech took well as he was simply preaching morality and 
patriotic citizenship but he was the actual founder of Mormonism, that 
opposed both. The Smiths, the reputed founders of Mormonism, were 
schemers, visionary fanatics, and seekers for wealth by a quick route. 
Before knowing Rigdon, Joseph Smith, Jr., had been searching for gold 
with a divining rod such as in the old days they used before digging a well 
to locate the best veins of water. In the revelations as related by him, an 
angel of the Lord appeared to him and revealed the location of a certain 
chest to which he was led by a singular mineral rod, but, as he approached, 
it sank deeper into the earth. It was finally captured, and contained as per 
revelation the so called Mormon plates, from which the Book of Mormon 
was translated. As showing that Rigdon’s was the directing mind Smith 
did not come at once. In November, 1830 four men came to Mentor from 
the scene of the “marvelous discovery.” They were Oliver Cowdery, 
David Whitman, Zaibad Peterson, and Parley P. Pratt. The entire night 
of their arrival was given over to consultation with Rigdon. Soon after, 
they all went to Kirtland and made a visit to Morley. Here they gained 
an easy victory and the class that had assembled there accepted the delusion 
with fanatical enthusiasm. Seventeen were baptized in the new faith the 
very first evening and other meetings followed with similar results. In 
the spring crowds came to Kirtland from Palmyra and other points until 
it would seem this was the point at which the world was centering. Fol¬ 
lowing the crowd came Joseph Smith, Jr., and Brigham Young. They 
enlightened the followers more explicitly. The gold plates were twenty- 
four in number, 13 by 12 inches in dimension, and were not exhibited 
because they could only be seen by faith. Mormonism grew and the Tem¬ 
ple was erected at Kirtland. A bank was established and they, issued a 
Mormon script, which became a circulating medium. The whole thing 
was managed at first by three high priests, Joseph Smith, Jr., Sidney Rig¬ 
don, and Frederick G. Williams. Kirtland lay upon a roadway and the 
waters of Lake Erie can be seen from her temple roof. The nucleus of a 
great city was expanding and the conspirators must get busy. All difficul¬ 
ties were settled by additional revelations. Here polygamy was put for¬ 
ward as a fundamental principle of the church. It came about in this way. 
A daughter of Oliver Snow of Mantua became infatuated with Rigdon’s 
preaching and she and the whole family followed him into Mormonism. 
Later she became infatuated with Smith, spiritually and otherwise, and 
became his secret mistress. This relationship was getting noised about and 
then came the “revelation” and she was “sealed,” to him as a wife under 
the “divine” revelation. She was a person of intelligence and wrote verses 
among other things. Some of her lines are preserved and they reflect her 
attitude of mind in the premises: 

We thank Thee for a prophet’s voice, 

His people’s steps to guide, 

In him we do and will rejoice 
Though all the world deride. 

These “revelations” became very convenient. At one time Cowdery 
wanted a secretary, so he had a “revelation.” It was as follows: “A 
command to Emma, my daughter in Zion, A. D., 1830. A revelation 
I give to you concerning my will. Behold thy sins are forgiven thee and 


Vo!.. 1-8 


228 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


thou art an elect lady whom I have called. Murmur not because of the 
things which thou hast seen, for they are withheld from thee and from 
the world, which is wisdom in me in a time to come. And the office 
of thy calling shall be for a comfort unto my servant Joseph, thy hus¬ 
band, in his affliction, with consoling words in the spirit of meekness, and 
thou shalt go with him at the time of his going and be unto him a scribe, 
that I may send Oliver whithersoever I will.” At one time Joseph Smith 
had a “revelation” that Oliver Snow must turn over a farm to pay a debt 
which he (Smith) owed at the bank and take in return a certificate from 
some high officer of the church. The old man hesitated, but finally com¬ 
plied, and the certificate proved to be worthless. He had another farm 
in Mantua and they finally got that. This latter information is given 
in a small volume by Christopher G. Crary, who though a “Gentile” was 
a close friend of Mr. Snow’s. The prophets had trouble among them¬ 
selves and this first Fourth of July orator at Chagrin Falls, the ring¬ 
leader, the real founder of the Mormon Church, was finally excommuni¬ 
cated by Brigham Young and consigned to the devil. 

The second Fourth of July celebration in Chagrin Falls, the next 
year, found the community still in a bustle of excitement. The constant 
rise of the price of land by reason of the unlimited paper money con¬ 
tinued and there was a general expectation of wealth by reason thereof. 
A Congregational Church building was planned and the timber for the same 
drawn to the public square, which at that time had been dedicated to 
public use. It included the tract on which the town hall now stands. 
Two-thirds of this block of land was afterwards given to the Methodist 
and Congregational churches. This second celebration of Independence 
Day was gotten up on a grand scale. The orator of the day was Rev. 
Sherman B. Canfield, and besides delivering the oration he officiated at 
the first marriage in the village and township, that of Aaron Bliss and 
Almeda Vincent, daughter of Dr. J. H. Vincent. It is related that this 
ceremony was public and came in as a part of the general program of 
the day. But patriotism and patriotic sentiment alone could not bolster 
up prosperity on an unsound basis and with the year 1837 the boom at 
Chagrin Falls, as in many parts of the country, went down suddenly and 
business came to a standstill. In all this activity, so built upon a fabric of 
paper money, much of which became worthless, the natural and ordinary 
advancement of the community was neglected. There was no authorized 
postoffice and mail route. Serenus Burnet at his tavern kept a sort of 
convenient distribution place for letters and papers. Once a week Marcus 
Earl came from Cleveland to his father’s home at the Falls and brought 
mail to the tavern. Coming along to the year of 1839, the first fatal acci¬ 
dent is recorded in the annals of the village. A daughter of Mr. Overton 
was burned to death, her clothing catching fire from a burning log heap. 
In 1839 Asbury Seminary was incorporated as a Methodist institution 
and opened its doors as an advanced school, with Mr. Williams as its 
first principal. Along with this came some industrial advancement. 
Samuel Nettleton built a furnace. This was sold in 1840 to Benajah Wil¬ 
liams. It was afterwards carried on by him. Those who came to the 
village in 1837 were Mr. Benajah Williams and sons named Lorenzo D., 
John W., William M., Francis S., Adam C., and Andrew J. Williams. 

In the presidential campaign of 1840 Chagrin Falls was largely whig 
and it took on its most enthusiastic manner entering into the campaign 
with that zest that has characterized it in later years. When the whigs of 
the northwest part of the state held a mass meeting at Fort Meigs, almost 
the entire male population of the Falls attended. Doctor Vincent was 
in command of Company C of Chagrin Falls Whig Riflemen. Those 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


229 


going individually assumed Indian costumes to add to the hilarity and 
significance of the occasion. Drawn into the maelstrom by the excitement 
the democrats went along with the whigs. Four horse, six horse, and 
eight horse teams took the crowd to Cleveland where they took the boat 
for the meeting. The democrats who went along, entered into the fun 
with the rest throughout the day, and when they got home, drew off into 
a bunch and gave a rousing cheer for Van Buren and Johnson, and as 
the old annals recite, “resumed their places as democrats.” In 1841 Aaron 
Bliss and John Mahew built a large stone flouring mill on the site later 
occupied by the upper paper mill. This was built with a semi-circular 
stone dam, which did not prove to be a success. The dam was carried out 
the same season taking away two bridges and flooding the village. In this 
year the first paper mill was built by Noah Graves, as the beginning of that 
industry at the Falls. The census of 1842 disclosed that there were 109 
families in the village and a total population of 540. Included in the 
540 were twenty-five cabinet-makers, four wagon-makers, ten shoe-makers, 
five merchants, three doctors, two lawyers, a very good showing for the 
young village. C. T. Blakeslee and John Brainard were included in the 
legal fraternity. Mr. Brainard became Professor of Chemistry, with resi¬ 
dence in Cleveland, and later Examiner of Patents at Washington. These 
two started the first newspaper. It was called The Farmers and Mechanics 
Journal. The first number was issued in August, 1842, and it was the 
first newspaper published in the county, outside of Cleveland. The total 
capital invested was about $100. Blakeslee sold out his interest to Hiram 
Calkins and he sold to M. S. Barnes. The firm name was Bfainard & 
Barnes. The firm sold the paper to H. G. Whipple, who tried to change 
it to a democratic paper under the name of The Journal. We say “tried” 
to change it. His foreman, the late proprietor, Barnes, in his absence 
substituted a whig ticket and whig editorial, which he found floating at 
the masthead when he returned. Barnes was dismissed and he thereupon 
started a rival whig paper. Both journals merely survived the campaign. 
The next year M. P. Doolittle and H. E. Calkins started a paper called 
The Spirit of Freedom. The paper (not the sentiment) died the same 
fall. Following these journalistic attempts a paper called Labour was 
published in the village for a short time. The press.was bought by Mr. 
and Mrs. E. H. Sanford. Then Mrs. Sanford began the publication of 
a monthly journal for women called True Kindred. At the end of five 
months the management changed from Mrs. to Mr. Sanford, and the 
name of the paper was changed to The Independent Politician. This 
was discontinued after a time and there was no further newspaper pub¬ 
lished in Chagrin Falls until The Exponent was established in 1874 by 
J. J. Stranahan and P. Hohler. After a year Mr. Stranahan continued 
the paper as sole proprietor. It has continued as a paper independent in 
politics, but vigorous in its utterances, espousing the cause of the farmer 
and the laborer. It at once had a large circulation and it is no idle state¬ 
ment to make that at least under the active management of Mr. Stranahan, 
it was the most influential paper published in the county outside of Cleve¬ 
land. Mr. Stranahan served in the Legislature of Ohio for two terms 
and following his service there was appointed United States Fish Com¬ 
missioner, in which capacity he served until advancing years caused him 
to retire. During his service in the General Assembly The Exponent was* 
found upon the desks of members and its vigorous editorials aided much 
in securing legislation in the interest of the farmers of Ohio. 

In 1843 a great deal of excitement was caused in the village as else¬ 
where over the prophecy of “Father Miller” that the world was to be 
destroyed by fire on the 23d of April of that year. Of course the real 


230 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Millerites put on their ascension robes and prepared for the occasion but 
the unbelievers, although not accepting the prophecy so positively and 
eloquently announced, were “from Missouri” and had to be shown. Well, 
at 3 o’clock in the morning of the appointed day in the year of our Lord 
1843, at the Village of Chagrin Falls, Earl’s woolen mill caught fire 
and as the roof was saturated with oil, burned with great rapidity and cast 
a most brilliant glare over the village, the river and the country around, 
lighting up the homes and starting frightened people from their beds. While 
it lasted the excitement was intense and a real scare gripped the village. 
The millenium was indefinitely postponed, but the mill burned down. As 
Miller did not fix a future date and the world seemed still solid Deacon 
Harry White bought the old site of the burned mill and erected an ax 
manufactory. This tool was still much used at that time and sales were 
large and continued until the land was quite generally cleared, wdien the 
manufactory was abandoned. In 1844 a Methodist and a Congregational 
Church were each built at the village. There was a daily stage line from 
Cleveland to Warren, touching the Falls, and the coaches were crowded. 
There seemed to be a healthy recovery from the depressed times following 
the collapse of the boom. Bentleyville, however, once ahead of the Falls, 
was losing ground. The chair factory built by C. P. Brooks did a good 
business for five or six years. The gristmill, in 1843, had been turned 
into a rake factory by Lyman Hatfield, and then the manufacture of 
wooden bowls was added. At that time the town looked prosperous. 
There were fifteen or twenty residences but like Albion in Strongsville 
there is left but a memory. Time, floods, and competition did their work 
and it was wiped out. Before this time, however, there had been agitation 
for a new township. The three villages on the river were not so much 
■concerned about a separate organization, but the idea of a separate town¬ 
ship was gaining ground. Chagrin Falls did not like the idea of being 
in a corner of Orange. There were thirty or forty farms now well cleared 
up and they joined in the agitation for a separate township. Application 
was made to the county commissioners and in 1845 a separate township 
under the name of Chagrin Falls was formed to include the northeast 
corner of Solon, the southeast part of Orange and a part of Russell in 
Geauga County. The first official town meeting was held at the tavern 
of A. Griswold on April 7, 1845. Samuel Pool and Pliny Kellogg were 
chosen judges, and Jedediah Hubbell and Alanson Knox, clerks. They 
were sworn in by Henry Church, a justice of the peace. The election 
resulted in choices as follows: Trustees, Stoughton Bentley, Ralph E. 
Russell, and Boardman H. Bosworth; clerk, Alanson Knox; treasurer, 
Thomas Shaw; assessor, Rev. John K. Hallock. Hallock soon moved 
away and George Stocking was appointed in his place. The other officers 
elected were: Overseers of the poor, George Rathbun and Jedediah 
Hubbell, Jr.; editable, Thomas M. Bayard; supervisors of the highways, 
Sherman S. Henderson, Obadiah Bliss, John Mahew, Phineas Upham, 
Duane Brown, John Goodell, Ralph E. Russell, and Noah Graves. About 
the time when the new township was formed there was much agitation 
over the prospective building of a railroad from Cleveland to Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania, and the line surveyed passed through the Village of Chagrin 
Falls, but notwithstanding the fact that the residents of the Falls sub¬ 
scribed for $24,000 in stock, it did not go through. This community 
seemed ever awake to any proposition that would benefit the town and 
they were fully alive to the doings of the outside world. They supported 
every enterprise that gave promise of contributing to the general welfare. 
More newspapers were taken in Chagrin Falls, during the first twenty 
years of its existence, than in any place of its size in the county. In 1847 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


231 


it had in the neighborhood of 1,200 inhabitants and the variety of its 
manufactures was increasing. In 1848 the Cleveland & Mahoning Rail¬ 
road was built. A large subscription was raised by the residents of 
Chagrin Falls, conditional upon getting the line through the town, but in 
this they failed and the road was built through Solon. Not daunted, the 
people of the Falls said if they couldn’t have a railroad they would have 
a plank road, and the same year the Chagrin Falls and Cleveland Flank 
Road Company was chartered. Chagrin Falls people invested $15,000 in 
the enterprise. This road was completed in 1850, and a beginning made 
in 1849. It was never a paving proposition and the planks were not 
renewed and the road abondoned except between Newburg and Cleveland. 
In 1852 the Painesville and Hudson Railroad was incorporated with a 
capital of $1,000,000 and the line as surveyed passed through Chagrin 
Falls. With its fine water power and active industries the people of the 
Falls were determined to have better communication with the outside 
world and, be it said to their credit the people of the Falls subscribed 
$200,000 to this project. This enterprise failed and the people were still 
dependent upon the lumber wagons with which to communicate with Cleve¬ 
land, Painesville, the lake and the canal. 

It is interesting to note how in this enterprising but isolated com¬ 
munity all questions of education received such earnest attention, notwith¬ 
standing the fact that some of its larger propositions along these lines, 
like the chartering of a college before the first district school was opened, 
came to naught. In 1842 a literary society was organized. This began 
collecting books and soon had the nucleus of a library. In 1847 Aris¬ 
tarchus Champion, who was the original owner of a large tract of land 
in Russell erected a large building for the use of the village. The next 
year he put in 800 volumes, for the free use of the citizens of the village. 
The Literary Society took their books there and the building was known 
as Library Hall. Champion kept the title of the property himself and 
afterwards removed the books and sold the hall to the Board of Education, 
which was formed in 1849. Then the educational interests were prose¬ 
cuted with much vigor. In 1858 the Asbury Seminary was sold to the 
Board of Education of the township for a Union school. Thus the schools 
advanced from year to year, the Union School being the center of educa¬ 
tional activities, until today Chagrin Falls has on these grounds three 
buildings. There are nineteen teachers employed, with a total enrollment 
of 700 pupils, and a graduating class from the high school this year of 
thirty-two. The superintendent is W. E. Stoneburner. Two important 
elements have contributed to the prosperity of Chagrin Falls, its splendid 
water power and the energy and public spirit and intelligence of its citizens. 
Their taste is shown in well kept yards and attractive homes, and, years 
ago, it resembled not the typical pioneer village in the wilderness, but a 
New England town of long standing. In a publication put out by a 
lecture bureau some years ago Chagrin Falls was designated as the best 
lecture town in the United States. As an illustration of the interest 
taken, a course of lectures was advertised there and the sale of seats was 
to open at such a time and place. The afternoon of the day before the 
sale of seats was to take place a line of ticket buyers assembled. Coffee 
and sandwiches were served to those in the line, the wives, sisters and 
sweethearts relieving the weary men through the long night from time to 
time until the ticket sale opened in the morning. 

Illustrative of the patriotic sentiment of the town, on Saturday, after 
the fall of Fort Sumter, a public meeting was called and this was 
adjourned to the following day. At this meeting nearly everv resident of 
the town was present. All of the churches were closed to enable the 


232 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


congregations to attend the meeting and enthusiasm was at white heat. 
A full company of three months’ men was raised as it was thought at 
first the war would be of short duration. Before this company was mus¬ 
tered in the call changed and the men of the company were consigned to 
other organizations. During the war 109 men enlisted from Chagrin Falls. 
Their deeds are recorded in the record of the various organizations. Sep¬ 
tember 3d the Chagrin Falls Soldiers Aid Society was formed and con¬ 
tinued under the leadership of Mrs. Jane E. Church until the end of the 
war. This society raised $832 in cash and $406 in supplies. At the close 
of the war there was a balance left in the treasury and this formed the 
nucleus of a fund which was raised for the erection of a soldiers’ monu¬ 
ment to the men killed in the war. This monument was dedicated in 1865. 
Among the Chagrin Falls soldiers may be mentioned Gen. Benjamin F. 
Pritchard, who captured Jefferson Davis and received much notoriety by 
reason thereof. General Pritchard was a resident of the Falls for many 
years before the war. 

After the Civil war the business of the township centered more and 
more at the Village of Chagrin Falls. Bentleyville ceased to function as 
a business center. In 1868 there was an attempt to revive Griffithsburg. 
A large gristmill was built there but the business did not come and the 
enterprise failed. Bad fires, the calamity that attends so many new vil¬ 
lages, have cast at times a temporary blight on the town. In 1868 a row 
of stores was burned and in 1873 the Philadelphia Block, so called, was 
burned. Many fine residences were built in the ’70s. In the Annals of 
1880 the town is recorded as having two paper mills, three foundries, one 
woodenware mill, two planing mills, one lumber yard, two gristmills, two 
banks, two lawyers, two physicians, three dentists, two dry goods stores, 
three groceries, three hardware stores, three drug stores, one bookstore, 
two jewelry stores, one photographer, two furniture stores, three shoe- 
stores, two bakeries, four millinery shops, two fancy goods stores, two 
tinshops, two wagon shops, five blacksmith shops, two harness shops, and 
one marble shop. As in Bedford the leading industry in the original 
upbuilding of the village was its chair factories, so in Chagrin Falls the 
industries that counted most were the paper mills. The Chagrin Falls 
Paper Company was organized in 1840 by Noah Graves. He made straw 
paper, wrapping paper mostly. In 1842 Charles Sears bought an interest 
and the firm name became Graves & Sears and writing paper was added to 
the line manufactured. The following year the firm name was changed 
to Sears and Brinsmade and the manufacture of printing paper began. 
The following year the mill was leased to Heaton and Daniels. Daniels 
went out and the firm was Heaton and White. In 1847 Sears came back 
into the firm and its name was Sears and White until 1850. Following 
this date it was Younglove and Hoyt for a year, and then Davis and Sykes 
until 1858, then Davis and Upham until 1860, then Davis as sole proprietor 
until 1866, when the mill closed. It was reopened in 1870 and the change 
of proprietors were in this order, P. Warren, J. G. Coleman, Pratt and 
Pope, Parker, Pope and Company. It was engaged in the manufacture 
of flour sacks but soon the firm name was changed to Pope and Bleasdale, 
who enlarged the business. In 1876 the Chagrin Falls Paper Company 
was organized with the following directors, D. S. Pope, I. W. Pope, 
S. I. Pope, and David Smith. With this constant change of proprietors 
the business had still increased until under the management of the Chagrin 
Falls Paper Company the output was 25,000 sacks per day. The changes 
in the management of the other paper mill were as frequent. It was 
started by Adam's and Company, who took over the site of the Bliss and 
Mayhew flouring mill, then it was turned into a woolen factory by Bliss 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


233 


and Pool, and then operated by the Lake Erie Paper Mill Company and 
while under their management it was burned. It was rebuilt and taken 
over by Adams, Upham and Company. In 1872 Upham went out and 
the firm name became Adams and Company, who increased the business, 
having several large buildings and employing about sixty hands. The 
woodenware factory mentioned was started in 1842 by Curtiss Bullard 
and Cornelius Northrop for the manufacture of spinning wheels, reels, etc. 
The demand for these articles decreasing it began in 1857 the manufacture 
of kitchen ware. In the ’70s under the firm name of Bullard and Marsh 
its principal output was a butter mold. Of the three foundries the first 
started was the Williams Foundry and Thimble Skein Factory. This was 
opened in 1844 by Benajah Williams. It was after some years conducted 
by his son, J. W. Williams. Among the articles manufactured have been 
sad irons, in later times more commonly called flatirons, bolster plates, 
priming tools, pump reels, and also wooden articles, such as ax handled 
and whiffletrees. The machine shop was started in 1844 by Adin Gaunt. 
The product has been matchers, planers, small steam engines, horse powers 
and intricate machinery of various kinds. The planing mill was opened 
in 1873 by George Ober, and the marble works by H. A. Sheffield. We 
have given enough to show the great variety of products manufactured in 
the town, so largely necessities in the home. It would seem that, with the 
power of the falls, the village, with its surrounding farms, could have made 
itself industrially independent from the outer world. 

We have referred to the churches. The Congregational Church was 
organized in 1835. Its first members were Thomas N. West, Rebecca 
R. West, Alexander H. Hart, Polly Hart, Timothy A. Osborn, Sarah 
Osborn, Salomy Crosby, Andrew Dickinson, and Thomas West. Its pas¬ 
tors at the first have been Revs. John S. Harris, Abram Nast,-Hop¬ 

kins, Josiah Canmor. In 1857 the church united with the Cleveland Pres¬ 
bytery. After its incorporation in 1869 the pastors have included Revs. 
G. W. Walker, D. T. Childs, A. D. Barber, William Woodmansee and 
Edmund Gail. ’ The Methodist organization up to 1844 met in school- 
houses, then a church was built. In 1854 it was on a wide circuit including 
Chagrin Falls, Mayfield, Gates Mills, Bainbridge, Orange Hill, Orange, 
Solon, Russell, and Chester. This circuit was covered by Revs. Patterson, 
Fouts and Wright. In 1857 the circuit was limited to Chagrin Falls and 
Solon,’ and covered by Rev. D. C. Wright. The pastors since it began 
its separate existence have included Revs. H. N. Stearns, John O Neal, 
George T Bliss, C. T. Kingsburv, G. W. Chesbury, N. H. Holmes, 
W T Wilson, B. Excell, and A. H. Dormer. The Disciple Church was 
organized at Bentleyville in 1831 by Adamson Bentley, the founder of 
the village. It started with a membership of thirty and met in a log 
schoolhouse. Gamaliel was the first overseer, and R. E. Russell and Zadoc 
Bowell were the first deacons. After seven years in the schoolhouse it 
moved to Chagrin Falls. In 1846 the Disciples held a large tent meeting 
there representing the counties of Cuyahoga and Geauga. ^ Alexander 
Campbell was present and the meeting was largely attended. Shortly 
after this big meeting a church was built. In 1849 Isaac Eret delivered 
a series of lectures to the Disciples, but the most interesting incident 
occurred nine years later when James A. Garfield held a discussion with 
a man by the name of Dutton, a somewhat noted infidel. Among the 
preachers of the early days were Adamson Bentley, William Hayden, 
W T Horner, Tames A. Garfield. T. II. Rhodes, B. A. Hinsdale, Sterling 
McBride, R. S.'White, J. G. Coleman, Adam Burns and James Vernon. 
The Free Will Baptist Church was organized at a schoolhouse in the 
Township of Russell bv Rev. A. K. Moulton. The first members were 



234 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Henry E. Whipple, John Walters, Reuben T. Walters, Sarah E. Morse, 
Hannah Mason, Faustina L. McConoughv and Lucy Goodwill. Moulton 
was the first pastor and John Walters the first deacon. It was incorporated 
in 1841 with the following trustees: John Walters, Otis B. Bliss and R. R. 
Wallers. Among the early pastors following Reverend Moulton have 
been Revs. Walter D. Stanard, A. R. Crafts, P. W. Belknap, E. H. Hig- 
bee, G. H. Ball, Norman Starr and Daniel H. Miller. A church was 
built in 1845. In 1846 a Bible Christian Church was organized, com¬ 
posed of English families. In 1851 a frame church was built and in 
1874 it was replaced by a brick one, having been incorporated in 1869. 
Among the .early ministers were Revs. George Rippin, John Chapel, 
Joseph Hodge, William Roach, William Hooper, George Haycraft and 
John Pinch. 

Among the fraternal orders the Masons were the first to organize 
and a Mason lodge was chartered in 1854. The charter members were 
Caleb Earl, Orison Cathan, Jonathan Cole, Apollo Hewitt, Roderick 
White, Nathan Hobert, S. B. Kellogg, Samuel Sunderland, Thomas White, 

L. D. Mix and Henry Burnet. The masters of the lodge in the early 
days have been Caleb Earl, L. D. Mix, D. A. Davis, S. L. Wilkinson, 

M. A. Lander, C. M. Foote, R. W. Walters and H. M. Doty. A year 
later the Odd Fellows Lodge was organized with the following charter 
members: Thomas M. Bayard, John W. Williams, H. A. Robinson, 
Uriah Ackley and Bennett Robbins. Later on came the Independent 
Order of Good Templars Lodge, a Knights of Pythias Lodge, the Chagrin 
Falls Chapter (Masonic) and other similar fraternal and beneficial orders, 
not to omit the Grand Army of the Republic, with its representative Post. 

The Township of Chagrin Falls has had efficient officers and a list 
of the men who served it in a public way will so demonstrate to those 
conversant with its history. The early trustees were: Ralph E. Russell, 
Stoughton Bentley, B. H. Bosworth, Charles E. Morton, Leonard Samp¬ 
son, E. P. Wolcott, Samuel Pool, L. Lampson, Hannibal Goodell, L. D. 
Mix, Horace White, George Gladden, Alonzo Harlow, Ephraim Sheffield, 
E. R. Sage, A. Upham, Orrin Nash, Julius Kent, Charles Force, E. M. 
Eggleston, W. W. Collins, S. W. Brewster, Silas Christian, J. G. Cole¬ 
man, William Hutchins, Alexander Frazer, Z. K. Eggleston and A. Church. 
Among the clerks have been A. Knox, David Burchard, Thomas Shaw, 
L. D. Mix, A. J. Williams, John V. Smith, S. K. Collins, E. P. Wol¬ 
cott, A. Harlow, Thomas Shaw, Lucius E. Goodwin, W. J. Armour, 
George King, Eleazer Goodwin, C. R. Bliss, W. H. Caley, Austin Church^ 
D. O. Davis. The early treasurers were Thomas Shaw, O. Bliss, John 
Mahew, J. A. Brown, Abel Fisher, Charles Force, T. H. Burnet, A. Up¬ 
ham, G. B. Rogers, L. D. Mix, L. McFarland, Alfred Williams and 
John J. Davis. E. P. Wilmot has served among the earlv justices of 
the peace and is at the present time one of the justices for Chagrin Falls. 
He is a lawyer of ability and has a large acquaintance over the county.- 
His study of the law began in the office of Henry C. Ranney of Cleveland. 
Perhaps one Chagrin Falls man in his day was more widely acquainted 
over the county and state than any other resident, Dr. H. W. Curtiss. 
Born in Portage County he graduated from the Cleveland Medical Col¬ 
lege in 1851 and came to Chagrin Falls the following year. He was 
elected and reelected to the office of state representative and then elected 
and reelected to the State Senate. When Governor Rutherford B. Hayes 
was elected president of the United States, and in consequence resigned 
the office of governor, Doctor Curtiss became president of the State Senate 
and acting lieutenant-governor of the state. Following this service he 
was elected and served a third term in the State Senate. At home he 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


230 


was active in local affairs and served for fifteen years as a member of 
the school board at Chagrin Falls. Mrs. Curtiss’ maiden name was 
Olive B. Rood. They had four children, Dwight C., Dan P., Paul and 
Virginia. In connection with the chapter on Chagrin Falls an incident 
while J. J. Stranahan was a member of the General Assembly and which 
illustrates his fondness for a joke may be recorded. Stranahan was 
a faithful and able representative and these jokes were only occasional. 
From one of the southern counties of the state there came to the Sixty- 
seventh General Assembly a representative, a retired, confiding, weak in 
the upper story representative, a democrat who in some unexpected way 
was elected to the House. Being a clergyman by profession, Stranahan 
suggested to him that he open the session with prayer at some time. He 
demurred, suggesting that he was not qualified for so important a function. 
The negotiations resulted in Stranahan writing out the prayer. When 
the morning selected came the gentleman recited the prayer as it was 
written by Stranahan. Among other things he praised the administration 
of Governor Foraker in the highest terms. The fact of a democratic 
member praising the administration of a republican governor was unusual 
and the newspapers over the state gave it wide publicity. Some, however, 
discovered the joke and published the fact that Stranahan wrote' the 
prayer. 

The present officers of the township are: Justices of the peace, E. P. 
Wilmot and M. L. Miner; trustees, J. G. Coleman, E. O. Foster and 
E. L. Lowe; clerk, F. A. Williams; treasurer, James R. Porter; assessor, 
C. F. Phillips; constables, R. F. Shipley and B. R. Hill. The present 
officers of the village are: Councilmen, John A. Church, William Did- 
ham, Frank Eggleston, Homer S. Kent, Edward McCollum and Silas 
Whitlock; mayor, Leslie Wycoff; clerk, Gladys M. Foster; treasurer, 
Martha Ridge; assessor, Charles Phillips. The former clerk was J. V. 
Class 

We have referred to the effort of the Chagrin Falls residents to get 
a railroad to the Falls. The building of an electric line by the Cleveland 
& Chagrin Falls Railway Company in the ’80s was a great boon to the 
town. Providing as it did, in common with all suburban lines, for both 
passenger and freight transportation, it was the one thing most needed. 
The growth of the village has since progressed steadily. By the census 
of 1900 it had 1,586 residents, in 1910 it had 1,931, and in 1920 the census 
report gives the population as 2,237. Judging from the school enroll¬ 
ment of this vear the increase in population for the ten years follow¬ 
ing 1920 will" be still greater. An annual event in Chagrin Falls for 
some years has been the fair which draws people to the town from a 
wide area for a week of fun and profitable recreation. This fair like 
that at Berea is fostered and aided financially by the county, the county 
commissioners each year making the necessary appropriation. 

Identified with the history of Chagrin Falls are many whose names 
have not been mentioned. Among these are Prof. F. B. Shumaker, 
who was superintendent of schools for many years, and was president 
of the County Teachers Institute; Joseph Stoneman, hardware dealer; 
James H. Shute, a large property owner; William Hutchings, who began 
his business career by working for Doctor Vincent at $10 a month, and 
who afterwards owned the Vincent estate and many other valuable prop¬ 
erties who did much work for the county, was active in getting the 
railroad to the Falls, and then settled down as a hardware dealer; Wil¬ 
liam A Braund, the carriage builder; Austin Church, the blacksmith, 
whose ancestors were soldiers in the Revolutionary war and the War of 
1812- A M Burns, son of Rev. Andrew Burns of Chagrin Falls, who 


236 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


served on the staff of General McCook, one of the “fighting McCooks/' 
who was promoted for gallant services in the Civil war, was state senator, 
agent for the United States Treasury and assistant city solicitor of Cleve¬ 
land; John S. Bullard, who was postmaster way back in 1834 and served 
on the school board, an expert manufacturer, who engaged early in the 
woodenware production; William H. Dripps, hardware merchant and 
one time mayor of the town; William Larkworthy, merchant and philan¬ 
thropist; Arthur H. Williams, merchant of note, whose brother, Arris H., 
was killed at the battle of Gettysburg, and Capt. H. B. York, a gallant 
soldier and officer in the Civil war. 


CHAPTER XIX 


MAYFIELD 

Mayfield, survey township number 8 in range 10, like Chagrin Falls 
and Orange, includes a portion of the Chagrin River Valley. Originally 
under the civil jurisdiction of Chagrin, now Willoughby Township in Lake 
County, it soon formed its own township government and entered into 
the sisterhood of townships of Cuyahoga County. In its pioneer history 
it has the distinction among other things of furnishing the biggest snake 
story yet recorded in the annals of the county. The first settlement was 
made in 1805 by Abner Johnson, Samuel Johnson and David Smith, who 
came with their families from Ontario County, New York, in that year 
and located on the west side of Chagrin River a little above the site of 
Willson’s Mills. The next spring three old neighbors came from New 
York with packs on their backs, guns on their shoulders and a dog by 
their side. The leader of this hiking or hunting party and the oldest was 
Daniel S. Judd. He was a large fleshy man who had fought in the French 
and Indian wars forty-five years before, and was also a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war. He was known as a great hunter of animals as well 
as men. This trip to the Western Reserve was in one sense a long hunt, 
as their trail took them through many miles of virgin forest. The others 
of the party were the two sons of Daniel, Freeman and Thomas Judd. The 
dog we will call Jack. The four, we must still include Jack, had started 
for Portage County, intending to settle there, but lost their way and by 
some turn of fate came upon their old neighbors of Ontario County, New 
York, whom they had not seen for some time. The fine bottom land of 
Chagrin River attracted them, and finding their old neighbors here as well, 
their plans were changed and they began a settlement on the west side 
of the river above where the others, the first settlers, had located. The 
Judds immediately began clearing, planting as they cleared, built a log 
cabin, probably more than one, as the sons had families, and in the fall 
went back East for their families and household furniture. In the family 
of Daniel S. Judd was Polly Judd, and she made quick conquest of the 
heart of John Howton, and in 1807 the first wedding was attended with 
the usual solemnities in this little community. The contracting parties 
were Polly Judd and John Howton and the magistrate who attended 
to the legal part of the programme was Squire Turner of Chagrin Falls. 
Polly, although the first to marry in Mayfield, was not the first daughter 
of the old warrior to take that step. In the spring of 1807 James Covert, 
a son-in-law of Daniel S. Judd, with a wife and child, came from New 
York to the Chagrin Valley. He located below the site of Willson’s 
Mills, as that location is now given upon the map. He was twenty-six, 
but other than his interest in realty his possessions consisted of a wife and 
child, $3 in money, an ax and a dog. He put up a shanty, went on foot 
to Painesville for a peck of salt, for which he paid $1, bought two pigs 
for the $2 left, and started in as a pioneer farmer. His biggest asset was 
his credit with his father-in-law, Judd. From him he bought a two-year- 
old heifer on credit. Not to trace all of the steps nor to know just how 
much he owed to his wife, the daughter of the old warrior, for his ad- 

237 


238 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


vancement, it is sufficient to say that at the time of his death he owned over 
1,000 acres of land and much other property and was long known as the 
richest man in the township. He was the father of twenty-three children, 
and died in 1878 at the age of ninety-seven years. Of his twenty-three 
children fourteen were by his first wife, whose maiden name was Martha 
Judd. The eighth born was James Covert, Jr., who for many years con¬ 
ducted the “Chagrin Valley Poultry Farm.” This was the Abner Johnson 
farm, originally owned by that first settler, and was located, as we have 
said, above Willson’s Mills. Samuel Johnson and David Smith left before 
Covert, Sr., came, so that this Abner Johnson farm was the first farm 
cleared in the township. John Jackson bought the farms of the first 
two, Samuel Johnson and David Smith, and became a permanent resident. 
The first birth in the township was a child to the first wedded pair, John 
and Polly Howton. 

The difficulty that attended the pioneers generally in the county, the 
handicap of bad roads, was perhaps greater in Mayfield in its early history 
than in some other townships, as being under the civil government of 
Chagrin Township, now Willoughby, the few residents were called out 
to work their road tax in that township and the work done at home was 
voluntary road work. The Chagrin was much more healthful than the 
Cuyahoga and there was very little fever and ague, which was so preva¬ 
lent in many parts of the county in the early days. Young calves and 
pigs were often killed and eaten by the bears, but Mr. Covert solved the 
problem by keeping together so large a drove of hogs that they would 
join together and fight Bruin to a finish. Failing in the pig battles, the 
bears would resort to small depredations about the house by night and day. 
One morning Mrs. Judd put cream in the churn ready for churning, set 
it out on a temporary porch and went about her other household duties. 
When she came out to churn she found the churn upset and the cream 
licked up neatly and completely. Bear tracks all about revealed the iden¬ 
tity of the robbers. James Jackson, who boarded with the Judds, planned 
a ruse to get the robbers. He put a pail of milk on the porch at night and 
waited with trusty flintlock. Soon he heard a lapping in the direction of 
the milk pail, and shooting at the sound in the darkness shot a large black 
bear. The wolves were very destructive among the sheep. Mr. Covert 
bought two sheep and two lambs, paying $2.50 per head. The first night 
the wolves got the lambs; then Covert built a protection fence and yarded 
the two. From these he raised a large flock. He was an expert with the 
gun and he and James Jackson did much to thin out the wild enemy to 
his flocks and herds. At one time he was badly bitten by a wounded 
bear that he had approached too closely, and was confined to the house 
for a long time. Among the settlers who came after Covert were P K 
Wilson, Benjamin Wilson, Luke Covert, Benjamin Carpenter and Solo¬ 
mon Moon. Supposedly these were heads of families in the main. These 
early settlers of Mayfield were largely Methodists in religion, and as 
early as 1809 a class in that denomination was formed under the charge 
of Reverend Mr. Davidson, who was an eloquent speaker and active 
worker. The meetings were held in private houses, as there was not even 
a log schoolhouse built at that time. The first death in the township 
was that of the venerable Daniel S. Judd, veteran of two wars, who died 
of apoplexy in 1810. After his death Mr. Covert became in a sense 
the dean of the settlers. In later years he used to relate how he would 
° f te n take a bushel of corn on his back to the mill at Chagrin, now 
Willoughby, attended on his return home by packs of wolves. These 
would follow and howl—rather unpleasant companv, but rarelv attacked 
man even in the night time. Once, as he related to a group of children, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


239 


he was thoroughly scared. He said: “I had been reaping wheat for a 
man who lived several miles from the river in Chagrin, and was coming 
home after dark. It was difficult to follow the sled path in the night, so 
I took off my shoes, carrying them in my hands so that I could feel the 
path with my feet. When about two miles from home I could see a row 
of fierce eyes within a few feet all about me. Wolves, generally cowardly, 
rarely came so close to a person and I was thoroughly scared. I felt in 
the darkness for a tree that I could climb and my hands came upon two 
sticks. These I threw with all force at the row of eyes and the animals 
scattered in the darkness. They followed me all the way home, but at a 
safer distance on each side, howling at intervals.” 

War is destructive of the ordinary processes of civilization, and the 
War of 1812 stopped everything in the line of increased settlement in 
township 8, range 10. Not until 1816 was there a schoolhouse in the 
township. It was a log building erected on land of Anthony Sherman. 
This became the only public hall and was used for a long time as a school- 
house, church, and town hall. In 1815 Seth Mapes and family came into 
the pioneer life of the township. They stayed twelve years and then 
moved to Orange. In 1819 the little community took action towards 
forming a township government. It has been historically true that in all 
the history of Cuyahoga County and its constituent townships, as in the 
entire Western Reserve, orderly and complete civic authority was early 
established and all the forms of government put in force. It would seem 
that the failure of the French government to establish a more permanent 
foothold in this country was due to its form of settlements. The trading 
post established in the most attractive points for trade and commercial 
advantage did not take root and become a fixed and integral part of an 
empire such as they designed to establish. The township, a small but 
actual division of the greater county, the officers drawn from its people 
in most familiar and actual contact with all the rest, intrusted with the 
dignity and burden of local self government, was a little world in itself. 
It had in itself political strength and independence and yet as the athlete 
trains the smaller muscles to make the powerful and complete man, so 
these communities self trained in government are factors in building up 
and maintaining a great republic. On June 14, 1819, a town meeting was 
held in the log schoolhouse in township 8, range 10. At a previous meet¬ 
ing the name Mayfield had been selected and the county commissioners 
had approved of the selection, taken all the necessary steps, and granted 
the request for the organization. The meeting was organized by choosing 
Daniel S. Judd, Daniel Richardson, and Adam Overacker as judges of 
election, and John Jackson as clerk. Twenty men were present and voted 
and thirteen out of the twenty were elected to office. These first officers 
of the township were: Trustees, Adam Overacker, Seth Mapes, and 
Daniel Smith; clerk, John Jackson; treasurer, Benjamin Carpenter, Jr.; 
overseers of the poor, James Covert and Philo Judd; fence viewers, John 
Gloge and Michael Overacker; appraiser, Francis Mapes; lister, Henry 
Francisco; justice of the peace, Michael Overacker. We have said that 
previous to the organization of the township it was a part of the civil 
Township of Chagrin. The Western Reserve Historical Society of 
Cleveland has preserved an interesting record connected with the separa¬ 
tion when the Township of Mayfield was formed. The Township of 
Chagrin settled with its seceding neighbor in strict equity. The record is 
in the form of a receipt and reads as follows: 

“Received of the Township of Chagrin November tenth 
three dollars and eighty-eight cents, being our proportion of the 


240 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


money in the treasury at the time of the division. Amount of 
tax levied in 1818, $76.00. Amount paid by Mayfield $6.80. 
Remaining in the treasury at the time of the division $43.05. 
Belonging to Mayfield $3.88. 

“Paid by John Jackson three dollars and eighty-eight cents 
to the Trustees of Mayfield, money drawn from the treasury of 
Chagrin and expended between them and the township clerk as a 
compensation for their services during the year one thousand 
eight hundred and nineteen.” 

To one given to figures it is easy to compute the ratio and show that 
Chagrin (Willoughby) paid over the exact proportion due the new town¬ 
ship. 

The increase following the organization of the township was two or 
three families per year. Bears and wolves began to diminish in numbers, 
but rattlesnakes were numerous in all parts. Solomon Mapes, and his 
achievement is authenticated by others, Dr. A. L. Dille related the story 
in the ’80s, Solomon Mapes killed sixty-three rattlesnakes, the inhabitants 
of a single hollow log. This was in 1825. He discovered the presence 
of the reptiles in the log, armed himself with an efficient weapon, and 
then with a rousing tap on the log would kill the snakes, one by one, as 
they came out. His count was verified by others. The first sawmill was 
built by Abner Johnson and Seth Mapes in 1824 north of Mayfield Cen¬ 
ter. The next year Mr. Johnson built the first gristmill in the township. 
It was located on a branch of the Chagrin River near the site of Willson’s 
Mills. In 1826 Halsey Gates came to the locality afterwards known as 
Gates’ Mills. He brought with him the gearing for a sawmill and imme¬ 
diately started the building, and the same year began operations. This 
was in the southeast section of the township. The next year he put up a 
gristmill, and these two most essential industries centered the settlement 
which is now the Village of Gates’ Mills. Lyndon Jenks was an early 
resident here. 

About 1828 a temporary blight affected the growth and impeded the 
development of the new township. This was nothing more or less than 
an outbreak of Mormonism. We have referred to the address of Sidney 
Rigdon at Chagrin Falls in which he predicted that the “Saints” would 
soon occupy the Chagrin Valley. Mayfield became an especial camping 
ground for Mormon preachers, priests, and prophets, before this predic¬ 
tion was made, and there were many converts. It is authenticated that 
they held out the inducement that those joining the Mormon Church, if 
they had sufficient faith, would never die, but if death came it was as a 
result of sin. Recent investigations into the operations of The House of 
David at Benton Harbor, Michigan, have brought out the fact that this 
sect held out the same inducement. The House of David was founded 
by Joanna Southcott, an English religious fanatic, who was born in 
Devonshire in 1750, a domestic servant. Originally she became a Meth¬ 
odist and soon pretended to have supernatural gifts. She dictated 
prophecies in rhyme, proclaimed herself to be the woman mentioned in 
the Apocalypse, and, although sixty-four years old, affirmed that she was 
to be delivered of “Shiloh” on the 19th of October, 1814. When this 
date arrived she was surrounded by her followers but “Shiloh” failed to 
appear. . It was then given out that she was in a trance, but she died of 
dropsy in ten days. Her publications number over sixty, and are all 
“equally incoherent in thought and grammar,” but a lady named Essam 
left by will a large sum of money for printing and publishing the “Sacred 
Writings of Joanna Southcott.” This bequest was contested in court by 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


241 


a niece on the ground that the writings were blasphemous, but the Court 
of Chancery sustained the will. This cult grew and at one time there 
were 100,000 followers. Then it gradually died out, but never became 
wholly extinct. The House of David, Shiloh, at Benton Harbor, Mich¬ 
igan, was of this cult. They held to the claim that its followers would 
not die. When the influenza swept the country it was published in the 
newspapers that there were no cases in Shiloh and while the outside world 
were dying the members of the House of David were perfectly healthy. 
Later developments in court in connection with the immorality charges 
proved against King Benjamin Purnell, have brought out the fact that 
deaths in the colony were concealed and secret burials were employed to 
conceal the fact of death, at least to the outside world. This cult, as will 
be seen, was founded only a short time before Mormonism, and the 
founders of Mormonism at first adopted this taking idea of immunity 
from death as a good talking point for their missionaries. As we have 
said, there were many converts in Mayfield, and some were perfectly 
crazy in their new faith. Families were broken up by the fanatical Mor¬ 
monism of some of the household. Besides the resident converts many 
Mormons moved into the township and “squatted” on land in the sparsely 
settled portions of the township, on farms in the western and central 
parts. These were social groups. In some instances there were several 
families on one farm. But developments at Kirtland and plans of the 
leaders there changed the drift and in 1831 they moved away to join the 
westward progress of the colony. Mayfield breathed freer now and the 
coming of settlers of a character to build up the best interests of the 
township began. Samuel Dean had come to Gates’ Mills in 1829. By 
that time nearly all the lots had been bought on credit from the original 
owners. The clearings were small, the houses log, and if frame houses 
were seen they were as rare as rail fences are today. The farms were 
mostly sold on land contracts running from twenty-five to thirty years. 
When the terms were broken by failure of the purchaser to keep up his 
payments in full, they were renewed from time to time. If the owner got 
his interest he was satisfied and sometimes it was difficult to get enough 
to pay his taxes. After the Mormons left, a more enterprising class came 
in. They bought up the old improvements, paid for their lands in a 
reasonable time and a change came over the township for the better. 
Whatever may be said of the thrift of the Mormons in the West, they 
were not a benefit to Mayfield and in so far as their influence and history 
touches the township of Mayfield, and thereby enters into the history of 
Cuyahoga County, they were a blight. 

Soon after 1830 the immigration became rapid. Frederick Willson 
came and gave his name to Willson’s Mills. Elton Wait and Daniel 
McDonald built the first store in the township in that locality. This 
passed to Willson and McDonald, who continued in business for five 
years. Col. Ezra Eddy settled in the township and opened a tanning and 
currying establishment near Gates’ Mills. This he carried on for many 
years. The first frame schoolhouse was built at the Center in 1830 and 
took the place and occupied the site of the old log school, which was the 
first built in the township. Like its predecessor the new schoolhouse was 
used for church and town meetings. Elections were held in it as late as 
1848. When Jeniah Jones settled near the Center in 1831 that part was 
still a wilderness. Soon after his arrival he helped to open the state road 
from the Center eastward. There were no buildings along the line then. 
Rufus Mapes, who came in 1830, was long and favorably known over the 
county. Of those who came to the East Hill before this year Rufus 
Mapes outstayed them all. South of the Center Joseph Lenty, Elijah 


242 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Sorter and sons, Harry, Charles and Isaac, took up land. They bought 
from the Mormons, paying $4 per acre. The grandfather of Elijah, 
Henry Sorter, better known as Uncle Hank, was of Dutch descent and 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Grandmother Sorter was also 
of Dutch descent, was once captured by the Indians. At another time 
another member of her family was made a captive and was released on 
the payment of twenty-two pounds of tobacco. Some such ransom was 
paid for the release of Grandmother, as she was not long in captivity. 
Other settlers, who came about the time that the Sorters arrived, were 
S. Whaling, Lucas Lindsley, and others. The farmers were getting into 
sheep raising, and in 1832 Erwin Doolittle started a carding machine and 
cloth dressing establishment, north of Willson’s Mills and on the same 
stream on which Abner Johnson located his mill. 

The first physician in the township was Dr. A. L. Dille, who came 
from Euclid and settled at Willson’s Mills and engaged in practice there 
in 1834. Here was the only postoffice in the township until this year and 
all residents went there for their mail. Then a postoffice was established 
at Gates’ Mills, a mail route being opened from Cleveland to Chardon, 
Geauga County. The year before Willson and McDowell built a tavern 
at Willson’s Mills, and Hiram Folk opened one at Gates’ Mills. The year 
following Halsey Gates put up a fine frame hotel at Gates’ Mills, with a 
ballroom, and for years this was the scene of many a joyous gathering. 
The same year Willson and McDowell built a sawmill and flouring mill 
near the site of their store and tavern. These mills were burned in 1839 
and rebuilt, Gen. Frederick Willson owning a whole or part until they 
passed into the hands of his son. By 1839 all the land in the township had 
been bought from the original owners and a large part cleared. There 
were some deer still in the woods. Doctor Dille says he only heard 
the wolves howl once after 1834. Mayfield was no longer a wilderness. 
In 1849 Dr. T. M. Moon began practice at Gates’ Mills, and Dr. Alex¬ 
ander Charles at Mayfield Center. Doctor Charles was commissioned a 
surgeon in the volunteer army in the Mexican war, went to the front and 
died while serving in the army in Mexico. The first church building was 
put up by the Methodists at Mayfield Center in 1842. In 1856 a number 
of enterprising citizens secured a charter for a school of higher grade in 
the township. It was known as the Mayfield Academy and was under 
the direction of the Mayfield Academy Association. A building was 
erected in the southwest part of the township. This school flourished for 
many years and gave opportunity to the youth of the township for a 
more liberal education than the district schools afforded. In the Civil war 
Mayfield gave its full quota to the Union cause, and the names of her 
soldiers are recorded in the soldiers’ monument on the public square at 
Cleveland. In 1877 a plank road was built from East Cleveland through 
Euclid and Mayfield to the top of the hill one-half a mile east of Gates’ 
Mills. Of this road three and one-half miles was built in Mayfield Town¬ 
ship. In 1879 there were three postoffices in the township, located at 
Willson’s Mills, Gates’ Mills, and Mayfield Center. At Gates’ Mills 
there were twenty residences, a gristmill and sawmill, a rake factory, and 
a store. Two churches gave opportunity for religious services to which 
all were invited. At Mayfield Center there were the town hall, a church 
a store and a sawmill. Of the Methodist churches of the township one 
was located at the Center, one at Gates’ Mills, and one on the east line of 
the township called East Hill. These churches were on a circuit and 
among the pastors have been in the early years Reverends Mix, Graham 
and Excell, and Revs. B. J. Kennedy, E. C. Latimer, Hiram Kellogg, 
D. Rowland, J. B. Goodrich, D. Mizener, J. K. Shaffer, and James 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


243 


Shields. The United Brethren Church was organized in 1870, and a 
church building erected at Willson’s Mills. A Disciple Church was or¬ 
ganized at Gates’ Mills in 1871. They bought a schoolhouse and con¬ 
verted it into a church. Truman Gates, L. P. Shuart, Luther Battles, and 
Lyndon Jenks have served as trustees. 

Of the schools, notwithstanding many recent changes in the local gov¬ 
ernment by the formation of villages out of the territory of Mayfield, they 
are all under the supervision of one superintendent, W. L. Shuman. The 
buildings are located in different parts of the original township, but oper¬ 
ated as if all were centrally combined. There is one at Willson’s Mills, 
one at Gates’ Mills, one at Highland Heights, and one at Mayfield Center. 
There are, all told, twenty-one teachers, and the total enrollment of 
pupils is 600. 

The year of 1920 witnessed radical changes by the forming of villages 
out of the township, and four villages were formed as if by a concerted 
arrangement, and a portion of the township annexed to another village in 
an adjoining township the same year. The villages were formed by 
action of the trustees of the township, B. A. Shepard, W. P. Fisher, and 
J. W. Southwick, and a vote of the people. The township clerk at this 
time being S. E. Miner. Riverside Village in the northeast section, com¬ 
prising Willson’s Mills, petitioned and the agents of the petitioners were 
Fred Willson and P. J. Sherman. The population of the territory to be 
included was 200. Election was held May 27th, and the vote was twenty- 
eight in favor and seven against the proposition. The people in the north 
center of the township, west of Riverside, petitioned for a village to be 
called Mayfield Village. The agent of the petitioners was L. E. Brott. 
The election on the proposition was held July 6th, and the vote was thirty- 
two for and five against it. The number of inhabitants was given as 300. 
The residents in the northwest part of the township petitioned for the 
formation of a village to be called Highland Heights. The agents of the 
petitioners were Myron Willis and Aloys Stenger. The number of in¬ 
habitants was given as 200. A vote was taken at an election held May 
18th and the vote was thirty-two for the proposition and none against it. 
The inhabitants of the southwest portion of the township, which includes 
Gates’ Mills, petitioned, and the agent of the petitioners was L. H. Elliott. 
An election was called for November 29th, and here a much larger vote 
was had, the result being 105 for the formation of a village and 4 against. 
The name selected was Gates’ Mills Village. In this same year of 1920 
S. C. Vessy, solicitor of the Village of Lyndhurst, lying on the south¬ 
west border of Mayfield, and formerly called Euclidville, petitioned the 
county commissioners for the annexation of certain contiguous territory 
in Mayfield Township to that village. This petition was granted, and this 
territory in the southwest portion annexed to that village. Perhaps no 
township in the county has mothered so many municipal corporations in a 
single year. 

Commencing at the northwest, the officers of Highland Heights Vil¬ 
lage are: Mayor, Myron Willis; clerk, Grant Straight; treasurer, Clark 
Parker; marshal, James Holoday; assessor, Charles S. Marquis; justice 
of the peace, Otto F. Moses; councilmen, John Franz, John Hager, John 
Herman, Frank Holoday, Frank McGurer, and Ora Parker. To the west 
comes Mayfield Village. The officers are: Mayor, G. A. Bennett; clerk, 
Maynard Covert; treasurer, Carl Schwering; marshal, Seman Grootegood; 
assessor, W. F. Sickman; councilmen, H. M. Lockmer, Herman Schulz, 
D. M. Brott, Dorr Knapp, W. R. Oatese, and Percy Parker. West of 
this lies the Village of Riverside. The officers are: Mayor, W. G. 
Schmunk; clerk, F. J. Willson; treasurer, J. A. Southwick; marshal, 


244 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


James Murney; councilmen, N. Battles, E. A. Brigham, I. S. McClintock, 
J. W. Rogers, P. J. Sherman, and H. O. Stine. The officers of Gates’ 
Mills Village, in the southwest portion of the original township, are: 
Mayor, F. R. Walker; clerk, H. L. Huncher; treasurer, F. H. Ginn; 
marshal, C. C. Clark; councilmen, George W. Brown, L. H. Elliott, J. H. 
Fleming, H. C. Gallimore, R. B. Hayes, and E. S. Miner. 

Notwithstanding the swarming of so many political entities from the 
original hive the Township of Mayfield formed so long ago in the wilder¬ 
ness has still an active existence and its territory, diminished, surrounds 
the Mayfield Center of the years gone by. The present officers of the 
township are: Trustees, B. A. Shepard, John Southwick and W. P. Fisher; 
clerk, Stanley Miner; treasurer, L. D. Hine; assessor, Charles Marquis; 
justice of the peace, Horace Neff; constable, S. Grootegood. Among the 
officers up to the ’80s we will recall many scions from the original pioneer 
stock as well some of the pioneers. Among those who have served 
as trustees are: Truman Gates, L. P. Shuart, Luther Battles, Lyndon 
Jenks, Rufus Mapes, E. A. Johnson, H. S. Mapes, Osbert Arnold, Her¬ 
man Jacobs, Daniel Shepherd, N. C. Sebins, Harry Sorter, David Hoege, 
J. A. Dodd, J. Bennett, Leonard Straight, C. N. Sorter, C. Russell, Wil¬ 
liam Apthorp, J. B. Sorter, Alva Hanscom, J. Sherman, H. Webster, 
Gordon Abbey, Nelson Willson, A. Granger, L. Jenks, W. D. Seldon, 
E. D. Battles, John Aikens, T. Gates, Milo Rudd, George Covert, John 
Law, William Neville, William O. Southwick, Ira Hoffman, A. F. Wil¬ 
liams, A. A. Jerome and Henry Covert. Among the clerks, some of whom 
served quite long terms, we note, Jeniah Jones, W. Brainard, L. Straight, 
J. A. Cutler, William Miner, Tracy E. Smith, Wilbur F. Sorter and 
H. W. Russell. The treasurers also have served quite long terms. Among 
them have been D. Wakeman, Charles N. Sorter, H. C. Eggleston, 
L. Straight, Harry Sorter, J. T. Battles, A. Straight, L. M. Gates, Jr., 
and A. Granger. 

Before closing the chapter on Mayfield we are constrained to give 
something more of a few of the characters identified with the township 
and county of which it is a part. Col. Ezra Eddy was born in Orange 
County, New York, in 1805. He was colonel of a regiment of militia, 
which drew its membership from all that portion of the county east of 
the Cuyahoga River. For six years he was county commissioner. Fred¬ 
erick Willson was born in the Township of Phelps, Ontario County, New 
York. He has been mentioned as coming to the township in 1830 and 
giving his name to the locality, Willson’s Mills. He served in the militia 
of New York before coming to Mayfield and was lieutenant and then 
captain in the light artillery service. He was elected captain of the 
first company of militia formed in Mayfield. They drilled and made 
great preparation for going to the front in the “Toledo war,” which was 
a controversy over the boundary line between Michigan and Ohio, but 
Uncle Sam stepped in and averted the appeal to arms. In 1834 he was 
elected major of the First Regiment, Second Brigade, Ninth Division of 
the Ohio Militia. In 1835 he was elected lieutenant colonel, and then 
colonel, and in 1838 he was elected a brigadier-general, and ever after 
held the title of General Willson. He married Miss Eliza Henderson 
of Orange Township. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity for 
sixty years. His sons were inclined to military service. George A. was 
a member of the Cleveland Grays, First Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and 
was killed at the battle of Resaca in the Mexican war. James P. served 
during the war in the First Ohio Battery, and died soon after his return 
home. M. H. Willson, the oldest son, succeeded his father, General Will- 
son, in owning and operating Willson’s Mills. He was so engaged for 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


245 


a quarter of a century. It may be mentioned that General Willson’s grand¬ 
father, Henry Willson, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war. The 
wife of General Willson, who gave him nine children, was of New Eng¬ 
land stock. In coming to Mayfield the Willsons took claim to a tract of 
government land. Harry Sorter came with his father, Elijah, to May- 
field in 1831. He got his education in the district school, which was kept 
in a log schoolhouse. Perhaps it would be more exact to say that he 
finished his education there, for he had attended school some in New 
York before the family came to the Western Reserve. Elijah Sorter 
bought his land of the Mormons. Harry, when only twelve years of 
age, drove an ox team to Cleveland, carrying a load of Mormons. He 
spent his early life on the farm clearing. In 1875 he was elected to the 
Legislature and served in the Sixty-second General Assembly. He served 
six years as township treasurer. W. A. Thorp was long a resident of 
Mayfield. His father, Warren A. Thorp, was born in Cleveland. He 
was a grandson of Yale Thorp. Yale Thorp built Yale College in Con¬ 
necticut and left an arrangement whereby his posterity could be educated 
there free of charge. W. A. Thorp served for a number of years as 
township trustee and held other township offices. A. A. Jerome was 
born in Orange Township. His father, Asahel Jerome, was a native of 
New York State and his mother, who before her marriage was Miss 
Lavina C. Sabin, was a native of Connecticut. A. A. Jerome served 
in the Union army throughout the Civil war. He was twice wounded, 
the last wound received at the battle of Winchester, when he fought under 
Sheridan, resulted in the loss of an eye. Enlisting as a private he was 
promoted to be sergeant. He served six years as county commissioner. 
George A. Bennett was born in Mayfield, where he was a blacksmith for 
thirty years. His father, Jacob Bennett, was an early settler and was 
a blacksmith by trade. His shop was the first one in town and after 
his death George continued the business. George A. Bennett was treas¬ 
urer of Mayfield Township for fifteen years and served as county com¬ 
missioner. James H. Gates, for a long time postmaster of Mayfield, 
was the son of Charles Gates. Just what relationship there was to Halsey 
Gates, who gave his name to Gates’ Mills the annals do not disclose. 
The Gates family were of Scotch ancestry. The Battles family enter 
largely into the history of Mayfield. The annual family reunions held 
in the township have been events of interest. An address delivered at one 
of these gatherings held in 1888, by Luther Battles, is preserved and 
is full of historical interest. Mary Ann Battles was chosen historian for 
the association. The meeting referred to was held at the residence of 
Lorenzo Battles, the old homestead. Luther Battles in his address 
paid this tribute and we quote it because so largely the history of the 
county is made up of the doings and transactions of men and the women 
are “understood” as factors but not specifically mentioned. He said: 
“I ask, who was the great central figure and loving sympathizer in all our 
trials and vicissitudes, our griefs and disasters, our hopes and fears, 
who heard every cry and felt the throbbing of every heart? None but 
mother.” 


CHAPTER XX 


EUCLID 

Moses Cleveland had forty-one surveyors under him when he came 
as the agent of the Connecticut Land Company to survey the Western 
Reserve. He was not a surveyor himself, but he owned a large block 
of shares in the company and was personally interested in the enterprise. 
He was a lawyer capable of drawing a contract that would stand, but 
not capable of running a line. If history could record or its pages tell 
the whole story there would appear the statement that his troubles with 
the force under him in the difficult and dangerous task before them, his 
worries in carrying forward the work to completion, required as much 
diplomacy to surmount or at least the same quality as that displayed by 
Lincoln in dealing with the Border States at the outbreak of the Rebel¬ 
lion. It is known that by some concerted agreement the surveyors and 
their assistants, in the spring of 1796, insisted on having a share in the 
enterprise of reclaiming the wilderness, aside from their wages. General 
Cleveland was obliged to concede to their wishes, but knowing the pecu¬ 
liar type of men he had to deal with drew up an agreement in legal 
form. He was the agent of the company and superintendent of the sur¬ 
vey. This agreement was signed up at Cleveland September 30, 1796. 
It was a formal contract. It assigned the whole of township 8, range 11, to 
the employes under him, conditional upon their becoming actual settlers 
and paying $1 per acre. By the terms of this agreement eleven families 
were to settle in 1797, eighteen more in 1798, and twelve more in 1799. 
All were to make clearings of a certain size and in case any failed to 
carry out their part of the contract the land was to revert to the com¬ 
pany. This condition was attached, however, that any individual carry¬ 
ing out his contract should not lose his rights because of the failure 
of any other one to carry out his agreement under the conditional con¬ 
veyance. It was a large concession. Each man was assigned 500 acres 
of land. 

Immediately after the agreement was signed the employes held a meet¬ 
ing. The education of the principal surveyors had been chiefly along 
mathematical lines and without any dissenting voices it was at once agreed 
to call their new township Euclid after the great mathematician and 
geometer. This name given to the survey township was afterwards 
adopted for the civil township and to the justly famous thoroughfare 
with its eastern terminus at the Public Square in Cleveland. At this 
meeting of employes it was agreed who should begin settlements in one, 
who in two, and who in three years. It is a matter of history that not 
one became a permanent resident of the territory allotted. Nathaniel 
Doan did become a resident of the county, locating" at Doan’s Corners in 
Cleveland Township. Several attempts were made to carry out the 
agreement. In the memorandum of the surveys of 1797 there is this 
entry: “August 10th—Two men started out to do settling duties for 
Seth Pease and Doctor Shepard.” These were two leading men of the 
surveying party. Several other beginnings were made in that year under 
the contract, mostly in the level territory between the ridge and the 

246 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


247 


lake shore. This part of the township was surveyed into small tracts, 
while that farther from the lake was surveyed into larger tracts. The 
intention being that each man should have a place near the lake and 
one back farther. These surveyors were men of push and daring, used 
to hardships, and yet they were not pioneers. The slow yet sure determina¬ 
tion that carried out the march of civilization over the Western Reserve 
was embodied in a different type of people. One could map out, plan 
and chart a civilization, but the real pioneer must come to build it. 
Moses Cleveland represents the first class as Alonzo Carter does the 
second. It would be a very appropriate and historic setting to have a 
monument to Carter beside that of Moses Cleveland on the Public Square 
in Cleveland. 

The Euclid that we are writing about is not the original survey 
township entire as the western and southwestern parts have since the 



Seth Pease 


grant to the settlers, who did not settle, been taken off to form East 
Cleveland Township, leaving the township an irregular tract with an 
eastern boundary nearly nine miles long, a southern one of only three 
miles, and a northwestern boundary on the lake of six miles. The first 
real settlement of which we have any knowledge was made in 1798 by 
John Morse, who was not one of the original surveyors. He may have 
bought out the right of someone who joined in the contract to buy 
the township. He built a log house on the ridge on the east line of 
the township and girdled about twenty acres of timber around it. He 
also cleared three or four acres on the flats near the lake shore and sowed 
it to wheat and grass seed. His wheat was cut and put in the sheaf, 
in a log barn, which he had built with a rather poor roof made of black 
ash bark. After all this labor had been done Morse abandoned the whole 
proposition. The wheat was destroyed by the rain through the leaky 
roof. He left one permanent improvement that became a great boon to 
later settlers. The following year the grass came up on the wheat field 
and from this field the whole township secured timothy and red top 
grass seed that seeded the meadows all through the settlements. But 
this was not a settlement in the real meaning of the term. Perhaps 
the one thing that kept the surveyors from becoming settlers and pioneers 
more than any other was the malaria. They did not fear the wild beast 


248 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


or the Indian. It is recorded about the family of Nathaniel Doan, who 
was one of the surveying party but did not settle on the territory allotted 
to the surveyors under the signed agreement, that only one of the 
family had sufficient strength to bring a pail of water, and that was Seth 
Doan, a boy of thirteen, and the family consisted of nine persons. 
Bilious fever and fever and ague had the whole community in their grip. 
The pioneers had much to contend with in the reclaiming of this territory. 

Joseph Burke was the first permanent settler in Euclid. He was a 
native of Vermont and was a drummer boy in the Revolutionary army. 
He was not one of the forty-one employes who made contract with 
Moses Cleveland, although he may have worked on the survey the next 
year after or the year of his arrival. He settled in 1798 or 1799 on 
the east line of the township north of and adjoining the Morse tract. 
Burke’s cabin was on the main road from Cleveland to the Pennsylvania 
line. This followed the foot of the ridge and had been opened to the 
extent of having the trees girdled along a course two rods wide and 
having the underbrush cut out. It could not, however, be traveled by a 
wagon without an ax along with which to cut out obstructions. Burke 
got some whiskey and opened a tavern, the first in the township and 
the first between Conneaut and Cleveland. Reference is made to the 
tavern, not the whiskey. He stayed ten years ministering to the traveling 
wants of man and beast, then enlisted as a soldier in the War of 1812 and 
died in the service. The next settler in the township was David Dille, a 
native of New Jersey. He came from Western Pennsylvania in Novem¬ 
ber, 1798, and located on the main road one-half mile southeast of 
Euclid Creek. Mr. Dille was an Indian fighter and all around frontiers¬ 
man. He had been actively engaged in frontier wars with the Indians 
before and after the Revolution. He was in that unfortunate expedition 
of Colonel Crawford, when that commander, friend of Washington, was 
defeated, captured and burned at the stake, near Upper Sandusky. Dille 
had five sons, Nehemiah, Lewis B., Calvin, Luther and Asa, nearly all 
grown to manhood when they came with their father to Euclid. They 
either came with him or followed in a year or two. He had fourteen 
younger children, nearly all born in Euclid. As parent, soldier and pioneer 
he seemed to have filled a large place. He lived in Euclid until his death 
and can be counted as having been a very permanent settler. He lived 
to a good old age. He was the first actual settler after Burke, of whom 
there is a very clear record, but in August, previous to his coming with 
his family, five young men came from Washington County, Pennsylvania, 
to look for land. Four made selections along the main road, John Shaw, 
Thomas Mcllrath, in what was later East Cleveland, and John Ruple 
in Euclid, close to the line between the townships, and William Coleman 
at Euclid Creek. The fifth man, Garret Thorp, did not make a selec¬ 
tion. In April, 1804, Coleman, Shaw and Mcllrath began work on 
their land in the vigorous style of the real pioneers. In the fall Coleman, 
who had cleared three or four acres and gotten out logs for a cabin, 
did not wait to build but went East and brought on his family to the 
site of the new home. He was a native of New Jersey, twenty-three years 
old and had a wife and two children, but little else besides. An inventory 
of his possessions revealed a yoke of oxen and a wagon, a cow, and 
75 cents in money. His capital, as was the case with so many of the 
early settlers, consisted of strong arms and willing hands, and perhaps 
we might add in his share in that neighborly fraternity, without which the 
work of many of the early settlers would have been trebly hard and 
discouraging. He brought on his family and the wagon cover served 
for a tent for a while. Then came the raising and the scattered neighbors 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


249 


from a radius of ten miles or more gathered to raise the new house. 
1 his done, Mr. and Mrs. Coleman put on the roof without further assist¬ 
ance. When the house was finished there was not a board in the construc¬ 
tion. The door, chamber floor and ground floor were all split out of logs 
with an axe. The work was cleverly done as Mr. Coleman proved him¬ 
self to be a man of varied adaptability. The puncheon floor was com¬ 
mon before the settlements were blessed with a sawmill. Incidents of 
the pioneer experience of Mr. Coleman are related in a manuscript 
preserved by the Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland. The 
family having by the following March used up all the little crop of 
corn that had been raised the previous year, Mr. Coleman started out 
to supply the family needs. He went to the residence of Judge Hunting- 
ton in Newburg, who had a supply of corn. The judge was away on 
judicial business and he had to deal with the wife. He tried to buy corn 
on credit, but the thrifty housewife was not disposed to extend credit 
to a total stranger. He told of his need and Mrs. Huntington asked 
him if he could make baskets. He said he could, for he reasoned to 
himself that if a squaw could make baskets he could, although he had 
never tried. Mrs. Huntington inquired the price and he said: “The 
old Indian price, the basket full of shelled corn.” She agreed to the 
terms and gave Coleman a list of the number and size of the baskets 
she wanted. He went home, borrowing thirty pounds of corn meal 
on the way of Capt. Timothy Doan, who lived in the part of Euclid 
Township that was afterwards included in East Cleveland. The next 
morning he looked up some good timber and began learning the trade of 
basket making. It took him several days to “get the hang of the thing,” 
but he finally succeeded and filled the entire order of Mrs. Huntington. 
He hitched up the ox team and hauled the baskets to the Huntington 
home in Newburg, and received according to contract 10 ]/ 2 bushels of 
corn. He drove from there to the gristmill of Rudolphus Edwards to 
get his corn ground, but found that the mill was idle, as the mill stones 
had been taken out to be “dressed.” Deacon Burke, an old miller, had 
come from Hudson to do the work and was already on the job. Several 
more days would be required to complete the dressing and grists were 
accumulating. Coleman watched Burke for a while and then suggested 
to Edwards that the best thing for all parties concerned was for him 
to board himself and oxen while he helped Deacon Burke dress the 
stones. Now Mr. Coleman had never struck a blow on a millstone in 
his life, but Edwards was willing if Coleman could do the work properly 
and to the satisfaction of Deacon Burke. Coleman had great confidence 
in himself and was sure he could imitate the pattern set by Burke. He 
went to work and satisfied the deacon and continued until the stones 
were finished and put in place. He soon had his grist ground and was 
on his way home with cornmeal for the family. Thus he had in less 
than a month’s time learned two trades to get a few hundred pounds 
of cornmeal for the family use. 

We have said in an earlier chapter that Rocky River was the only 
stream entering Lake Erie that did not follow the original glacial channel. 
Its rock bottom was a lure to the lake fish, and, the pioneers, who were 
compelled to put in supplies of food for their families before the mul¬ 
tiplied flocks and herds made subsistence more easy, resorted there for 
fish. Mr. Coleman’s next move after getting a supply of cornmeal was 
a trip to Rocky River to catch fish for the summer use. He and an¬ 
other man went in a canoe on Lake Erie and returned with two barrels 
of fine pike and pickerel. Up to this time people believed that lake 
fish could not be preserved in salt or brine, as were the salt water fish. 


250 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


An old Indian when asked about it said: “No—no salt, put him on pole 
—make little fire—smoke him heap.” Mr. Coleman reasoned that lake 
fish would keep in salt as well as ocean fish. He had a quantity of salt, 
for which he had traded his watch before leaving for the western wilder¬ 
ness. He tried the experiment and succeeded. Then his neighbors 
followed his example. The late Hon. John Barr, a student of pioneer 
life, investigated the matter and gave credit to Mr. Coleman for this 
discovery, which, so seemingly trivial at this time, was a great boon to 
the scattered pioneers in those days. William Coleman was a type of 
the best class of pioneers. Jacob Coleman, an uncle of William, came 
to Euclid in 1805. He had been a soldier in the Revolution, was for 
two years in Col. William A. Washington’s celebrated cavalry regiment, 
regiment of horse they called it then. John Ruple, known for long as 
Deacon Ruple, came that year. He bought his farm two years before. 
This was east of Nine Mile Creek. Deacon Ruple raised a large fam¬ 
ily did his part in reclaiming the forest and lived out his life in Euclid. 
In Euclid there seemed to be a larger percentage of panthers among the 
wild denizens of the wood than in other parts. These animals were 
accounted more dangerous than the bear and the wolf, and would more 
readily attack man, hence the shooting of a panther was more of an event, 
the danger attending a contact with this wily creature was counted in. 
Among the most popular sports, and this has continued almost to the 
present day, was coon hunting. This was attended with no danger, and 
the skin had a trading value and the meat was cooked for the family use. 
Coon skins were legal tender in Newburg for household necessities. 

In the settling up of Euclid the destruction of the rattlesnake was 
taken up with much vigor. No one in the township quite equalled the 
record of the Mayfield incident. Deacon John Ruple killed thirty-eight 
at one time. He was not bitten, but the fumes of the angry reptiles 
thrown into the air made him quite sick. Luther Dille had a similar 
experience near Collamer. He killed forty-three and became so sick 
that he had to desist before the nest was cleaned out. It became the 
particular business of boys as well as men to get rid of this danger to 
the lives of the pioneers. Boy-like they experimented with the reptile. 
One boy bet that he could touch the tail of a snake and get away without 
being bitten. He tried it to his sorrow, but his life was saved by quick 
and heroic treatment. The boys would often hold the reptiles down with 
a forked stick, then slip a noose of tough bark over their heads and take 
them home as live captives to show and shock the family. They shot 
many with the bow and arrow. It is due to this active and energetic 
campaign against them that the pioneers coming into this infested region 
suffered so few losses by snake bite, but the presence of the reptiles 
was a drawback and their destruction a part of pioneer history. 

Religion was early manifest in Euclid in organized form and a Con¬ 
gregational Church, the first church to be organized in Cuyahoga County, 
was formed in August, 1807. John Ruple was the first deacon. The 
building was erected in that part of Euclid which was later in the civil 
township of East Cleveland, so that this distinction may apply to both 
townships. 

In 1807 Andrew Mcllrath and his three sons-in-law, Abraham Mat¬ 
tox, David Bennett and Abraham L. Norris, arrived with their families 
and settled near the line between Euclid and East Cleveland as after¬ 
wards divided. Mcllrath lived out his life on the old pioneer stamping 
ground, but the daughters with their families followed the “westward 
ho” contagion in a few years. Gad Cranney located on an old clearing 
near the lake shore, remained about fifteen years and then joined the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


251 


westward march, moving first to Indiana. The same year as Cranney, 
John Adams came to Euclid and located on the main road east of Euclid 
Creek, where he stayed ten years and then sold to one John Wilcox. 
Adams’ successor remained much longer and until the early 70s. The 
incoming settlers at this time were few and it is easy to note their indi¬ 
vidual arrivals. In 1809 Abraham Bishop of Washington County, New 
York, settled on a lot that had been improved by John Morse. Bishop 
brought a large quanity of farm merchandise, which he sold throughout the 
locality, such as plows, chains, etc. The next year he built a sawmill 
on the east branch of Euclid Creek on a site that was afterwards and 
for many years occupied by Seth D. Pelton and Jonathan Pelton, who 
continued the business. Bishop’s mill was the first in the township. The 
first panther killed in the township was a victim of the marksmanship 
of Deacon John Ruple, who like Bill Johnson of Brecksville, “never 
had any tussels,” because he always shot to kill. This was a large 
animal, measuring nine feet from tip of nose to tip of tail. It was 
commonly reported that Andrew Mcllrath in close quarters killed one 
with an ax. 

Euclid was organized as a civil township in 1810. It included much 
more than the original survey township allotted to the original surveyors 
under Moses Cleveland, for it had always been the policy of the settlers 
of the Western Reserve to promote law and order by extending the 
jurisdiction of the organized townships over the thinly populated regions 
beyond its limits. The name selected for the survey township was adopted 
for the civil township. The first town meeting was held April 22d at 
the home of Walter Strong. Timothy Doan acted as moderator. The 
proceedings were in this wise, and so the elections were conducted in 
the townships afterwards. The self-appointed moderator, or chairman, 
calls the meeting to order at the time specified in the notice and acts 
as chairman during the selection of judges and clerks of election. The 
choice was, as a rule, made by a viva voca vote. At this first election 
David Dille and Abraham Bishop were chosen as judges of election, and 
the clerk was Lewis R. Dille. The officers elected, being the first officers 
of the township, were: Trustees, Elisha Graham, David Dille and Thomas 
Mcllrath; clerk, Lewis R. Dille; overseers of the poor, David Hender- 
shot and Holley Tanner; fence viewers, Seth Doan, James Lewis, ap¬ 
praiser, Nehemiah Dille; lister, Holley Tanner; treasurer, Abraham 
Bishop; constable, Nehemiah Dille; supervisors of the highways, Eastern 
District, James Covert; Northern District, Holley Tanner; East Middle 
District, Abraham Bishop; Western District, John Shaw; Southern Dis¬ 
trict, Asa Dille; West Middle District, Lewis R. Dille. The next settlers 
who came in after the organization were Garrett and Benjamin Thorp. 
They located near the mouth of Euclid Creek. Benjamin later moved into 
East Cleveland, or that part of Euclid which was included in that township. 

We have repeatedly referred to the anxiety on the part of the 
settlers all over the county as to the safety of their person, home, family 
and landed possession, particularly the danger from hostile Indians, when 
the War of 1812 began. The people of Euclid felt that they were in a 
very dangerous locality, being exposed to the white foe by sea and the 
red foe by land. When the news came of Hull’s surrender, and with 
it the rumor that British and Indians were making a murderous progress 
down the lake, the settlers hitched up ox sleds, loaded on family, pro¬ 
visions and household effects and started eastward. They found the 
Chagrin River so swollen that they could not cross and were in a veritable 
panic. William Coleman went twice to Cleveland to get the latest news. 
On his second trip he learned that the scare about the British and Indians 


252 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


arose from the movement of the scattered remnant of Hull’s army down 
the lake. Soon the people came back to their homes, but every man who 
could bear arms served in defence of the frontier. When troops were 
stationed at Cleveland a small picket of horsemen were maintained at 
Euclid Creek to give notice of the enemy, white or red, from that direc¬ 
tion. The nearest approach to an invasion of Euclid occurred just before 
the battle of Lake Erie. A detachment of the enemy forces from the 
British fleet landed and killed an ox belonging to Mr. Mcllrath, and 
carried the beef to the war ships. This was the only raid recorded in 
history. The brilliant victory of Commodore Perry, the great turning 
point of the war here, put an end to that deadly fear that dominated 
the settlers, so that even during the war some emigrants came. Dr. Havilla 
Farnsworth was one. He came from Newport, Rhode Island, and settled 
on the ridge. He was the first physician in the township. He had a 
large practice and was locally famous both as a physician and as a sur¬ 
geon. His visits were made on horseback, he often going out fifteen 
or twenty miles. At night he would have a guide riding ahead with a 
torch to lead the way. Scattering settlers came, lured by the cheap land. 
Benjamin Day bought 300 acres of land west of Nottingham. He came 
with his family the day before Perry’s victory. Dr. Robert Day was 
only eight years old on the arrival of the family. Where Nottingham 
is there was only a path marked by blazed trees. Nearly all the inhabitants 
of the township at that time lived on the main road near the lake shore. 
After the war land began to advance in price, but Luther Dille paid 
only $3 per acre. He bought in 1813. The next year Jonathan Pelton 
bought Abraham Bishop’s farm and sawmill on Euclid Creek. His son, 
Seth Pelton, long a resident of that locality, was then nineteen years of 
age, and his brother, Joseph, was twenty-one. John Bishop at that 
time lived at what became later Euclid Village. 

Shortly after 1814 Paul P. Condit opened a tavern in a frame house 
half a mile west of the present Village of Euclid. This was the first 
frame tavern in the township. Abram Farr opened one at Euclid Creek 
shortly after Condit opened. The real center of business in the township 
about this time was a small settlement called Euclid, but which was 
afterwards called Collamer. Two miles northeast of the main road was 
a smaller collection of houses called then Euclid Creek, now Euclid 
Village. After the war the township settled up quite rapidly. The land 
was still cheap and settlers multiplied. The land between the ridge 
and the lake was cleared more rapidly, but there was considerable clearing 
done on the ridge. A poll sheet of an election held in the township 
in 1815 has been preserved and the list shows that forty-two men voted. 
We give the list as recorded 108 years ago: Timothy Doan, William 
Coleman, David Hendershot, Nehemiah Dille, John Shaw, Seth Doan, 
Jacob Coleman, James Strong, Asa Dille, Jr., Amaziah Porter, John H. 
Strong, Levi Thomas, Thomas Barr, David Dille, Samuel Ruple, Samuel 
Mcllrath, Jedediah Crocker, Samuel Dodge, J. Adams, Asa Dille, Havilla 
Farnsworth, Francis K. Porter, Luther Dille, Enoch Murry, Benjamin 
Day, Abraham Bishop, Walter Strong, Samuel Mcllrath, Abraham L. 
Morris, Jedediah D. Crocker, Parker Pelton, Samuel Crocker, Daniel S. 
Tyler, Joseph Pelton, Ezra B. Smith, Dennis Cooper, Calvin Dille, Abijah 
Crosby, Lewis R. Dille, Hugh Hamilton, William Gray and James Ruple. 
William Coleman was the first postmaster in the township and he began 
his official duties as such in 1815. Two years after (and it seems the 
postoffice did not require his entire time) he built the first gristmill in 
the Township of Euclid Creek and afterwards built a sawmill at the same 
locality. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


253 


About 1820, William Gray, who had located at the mouth of Euclid 
Creek and lived there about ten years, built a plant there for making 
stoneware, jugs, jars, bowls, etc. In 1823 he sold this to J. and L. 
Marsilliott. That was the firm name, whose advertisement appeared in 
the Cleveland Herald of that year. Leonard Marsilliott kept up the 
business for fifteen years. He bought clay from wSpringfield, Ohio, 
perhaps not all, and burned seven or eight kilns a year employing five or 
six men throughout the year. Here, as remembered by early residents, 
was quite a settlement for those days. In 1823 the township was divided 
into ten school districts and a complete census of the township made in 
connection therewith. The old records show that at that time there were 
183 heads of families in the township, showing a rapid filling up in the 
ten years following the close of the war. Of the school districts formed 
the families were located as follows: In district number one, twenty-eight; 
number two, thirty-four; number three, twenty-two; number four, seven¬ 
teen ; in district number five, fourteen; number six, twelve; number seven, 
twenty-one; in number eight, thirteen; in number nine, twenty-one; and 
in district number ten, fourteen. In 1828 a stage route was established 
along with the main road from Cleveland to Buffalo and two and four- 
horse teams passed daily each way. When navigation on the lake was 
closed, this stage route was crowded with traffic. Ten years later, and 
the log house had changed to frame and there was general improvement. 
A great many little conveniences were coming into use to aid the house¬ 
wife and farmer. The friction match was replacing the tinder box and 
fewer stumps interfered with the plow and in the clearing. The pioneers 
of the Western Reserve were progressive. They were quick to adopt 
improvements of all kinds as they came along. It is related of a plow 
agent, who endeavored to sell a turnover plow in the mountains of Tennes¬ 
see to one who had always used the “bung town” or shovel plow, that he 
was repulsed with the remark that “God Almighty knew which side up 
He wanted the land, when He made it.” 

In 1840, Ruel House, Charles Moses, and Capt. William Trist opened 
a shipyard at the mouth of the Euclid Creek. This was in operation for 
ten years. They first built canal boats, their yards being located on the 
west side of the creek. They built some ten or twelve canal boats in the 
five years that they followed that line of work, and then in the next five 
years they built schooners for the lake service. They put some six or 
seven afloat, the last and largest having a capacity or measurement of 
300 tons. When R. H. Strowbridge came to Euclid in 1840, Abram 
Farr was still keeping tavern at Euclid Creek and there were three stores 
there, those of John Bishop, Charles Farr, and Nelson Moses. The 
township was becoming quite thickly settled in the southern part adjoining 
Warrensville, stone quarries had been opened on Euclid Creek by James 
Hendershot, Madison Sherman, and a Mr. Husong. Madison Sherman 
built the first mill in the township for cutting stone. The township had 
passed through the pioneer stage and was changed from a wilderness to 
an agricultural community with its certain small industries, when, in 1847, 
East Cleveland was formed. The western part went to unite with other 
territory in the forming of the new township. This left the township 
with an irregular boundary, but soon after came a new era in its history. 
In 1852 the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroad, later the Lake 
Shore & Michigan Southern, or a part thereof, and now the New 
York Central, was built through the township, five and a half miles of its 
right of way being in Euclid. The transportation facilities thus brought 
home, opened new markets and transportation waited on production, if 
it can be said that transportation waits. 


254 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Soon came 1860 and another war more disturbing, but not so close 
at'hand, as that of 1812, disturbed the ordinary course of this community 
with all the rest. The record of Euclid in the war is creditable and her 
soldiers’ names are recorded in the monument on the Public Square in 
Cleveland with those of the entire county. 

It was after the Civil war that the greatest changes took place in the 
township. Grape culture began in a small wav near Collamer and it grew 
into hundreds of acres until at one time Euclid was the largest shipping 
point for grapes in the United States, rivaled only by Dover, which was 
the second largest. In the deposits over this region, referred to in an 
early chapter, the soil given Euclid and Dover seemed to be especially 
adapted to the culture of grapes. The vines needed no protection in 
winter here. The slatestone in the soil produced a hardy wood that was 
not affected by the lake winds and also produced a particularly fine quality 
of fruit. It is a notable fact that the poorest soil for grain, is the best 
for grapes. Land that was considered almost valueless, before the dis¬ 
covery of its superior quality for grape culture, at once became of great 
value. It produced fine crops of grapes ten years in succession. After 
the Civil war, in the 70s, Lewis Harms was one of the largest growers 
of grapes in the township. He planted the first vineyard on Put-in-Bay 
Island, but satisfied that Euclid was a better locality moved there. He 
always said that for certain varieties, especially the Delaware, Euclid was 
the best section in the state. Three years is required for a newly planted 
vineyard to come to full bearing. In Euclid this has never failed to be 
the rule. The varieties most cultivated have been the'Concords, Catawbas, 
Delawares, Martha, Ives, Dianas and Hartford Prolifics, the Concords 
and Catawbas leading in acreage. Concords produce three tons to the 
acre. Catawbas two tons, Delawares two tons, Dianas two and a half tons, 
Ives four tons, and the Hartford Prolifics five tons. Cleveland has been 
the principal market for this product, but large quantities have been 
shipped to Chicago, Cincinnati, and Louisville. Large quantities have 
been made into wine in the township. In later years this industry has 
languished and the acreage has become smaller and smaller. Whatever 
the cause of this has been, it was for many years a great source of wealth 
in the township and brought into prominence an agricultural community 
that will not be forgotten in the years to come. 

Another source of wealth in the township was its stone quarries, not 
reaching to the volume of the Berea quarries, but of considerable propor¬ 
tions. The superior quality of the Berea stone, of course, made the Euclid 
quarries of less importance. In 1862 Duncan McFarland opened a quarry 
on Euclid Creek and in 1871 James and Thomas McFarland opened 
another on the same stream on the west side. This they sold in 1875 to 
the Forest City Stone Company and opened a quarry themselves on the 
other side and built a mill for cutting flagging and building stone. At 
one time they employed fifteen men. The Forest City Stone Company 
had their mill in Cleveland and employed over twenty-five men in the 
70s. In 1873 Maxwell Brothers, the firm name afterwards being Max¬ 
well & Malone, opened a quarry and built a large mill on Nine Mile 
Creek. They ran six gangs of saws and emploved twenty men. They 
were among the first to use a steam drill in quarrying, sending steam 1,100 
feet into the quarry, and such was its force that it would sink a drill into 
the rock at the rate of 20 inches in three minutes. Slosson & Meeker 
operated a mill at Nottingham for sawing stone for flagging. The use of 
cement has taken the place of quarried stone to such an extent that the 
demand for sawed flagging has greatly lessened. 

The civil township of Euclid is no more. The original territory has 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


255 


been taken up bv various villages and the township has no existence as 
such. In 1880, Euclid Village, once East Euclid or Euclid Creek, had a 
church, a schoolhouse, two stores, one hotel, a steam basket factory, a 
wagon shop, a shoe shop, two blacksmith shops, and about thirty dwelling 
houses. Its rival, at that time, Nottingham, had two stores, a stonemill 
and a feedmill, two blacksmith shops, and about thirty dwellings. The 
original Village of Euclid as first incorporated in 1877, included nearly 
all the territory of the township. The next year the people voted to 
surrender their corporate existence and go back to the former township 
existence. About this time a brick town hall was built at the natural 
village and in the south part of the township a frame building called tem¬ 
perance hall. This was built by popular subscription and was used mostly 
by an organization called the Sons of Temperance. The Village of Collin- 
wood, now a part of the City of Cleveland, after the Civil war, was built 
up in part in Euclid township. The main street of Collinwood was the line 
between the townships of Euclid and East Cleveland. The villages formed 
out of the original territory of Euclid include Euclid Village, Richmond 
Heights Village, Euclidville, formed in part from other territory and now 
called Lyndhurst, South Euclid Village, formed in part from Warrensville, 
Nottingham and a portion of Collinwood, which has now been annexed 
to Cleveland. The Village of Euclid or Euclid Village, was formed by 
petition to the county commissioners June 5, 1876. This petition was 
granted August 7th of the same year, but in the year following the 
people voted to go back to the old township government and the village 
corporation was abandoned. Then in 1903 it was organized as a village 
but did not include so much of the territory of the township as did the 
original village formed. In 1911 some additional territory was annexed 
to the village. It has this special distinction as given in Howe’s history, 
but this long before its incorporation. Here he says was built the first 
frame meetinghouse, with a spire, on the Western Reserve. This his¬ 
torical structure, or historical spire, was built in 1817. The present 
officers of the village are: Mayor, Gen. Charles X. Zimmerman, a hero 
of the World war; clerk, Charles H. Cross; treasurer, Herman B. Cook; 
assessor, John Davis; councilmen, Leo F. Coulton, Irving F. Collins, 
Charles Ettinger, Carl D. Fletcher, Joseph Irr, and David C. Wright. 
The partiality of the village for military men is shown in the fact that 
General Zimmerman succeeded Col. D. H. Pond, who had served for 
several terms as mayor of the village. The former clerk of the village 
was H. S. Dunlap. 

Nottingham was made a village by action of the county commis¬ 
sioners November 5, 1873, out of the territory of Euclid. This organiza¬ 
tion was allowed to lapse. It was again incorporated in 1899. Novem¬ 
ber 8, 1911, certain territory was annexed, and November 5, 1912, it was 
annexed to Cleveland by a vote of the people. At this time a portion of 
the Village of Euclid was also annexed to the City of Cleveland. Euclid¬ 
ville was formed from territory in the southeast portion of the township. 
Three years ago certain territory was annexed from Mayfield, and the 
Common Pleas Court changed the name to Lyndhurst. The present 
officers of the village are: Mayor, Edmund J. Thom; clerk, S. C. Vessy; 
marshal, A. Weidner; treasurer, Earl Kohler; assessor, William Brug- 
gemeier; councilmen, Percy H. Baster, C. C Bolton, Harry Brainard, 
Ray C. Hawthorne, Frank Hildebrand, and Henry Sherman. The present 
officers of Richmond Heights Village are: Mayor, William R. Zeits; 
clerk, Henry Schroeder; treasurer, Paul Keyerleber; assessor, Edward 
Trebisky; councilmen, J. H. Belcher, Charles Court, George M. Berg, 
George W. Pyphers, W. E. Robbins, and Joe Shebanek. Richmond 


256 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Heights Village is officered as follows: Mayor, Charles Havre; clerk, 
Paul H. Prasser; treasurer, Walter Eckert; assessor, John L. Feilitz; 
justice of the peace, J. Whigham; marshal, J. H. Bilkey; councilmen, 
Henry Faust, D. E. Fierbaugh, W. E. Dougherty, C. W. Davis, H. G. 
Stalnaker, and O. H. Whigham. For the more simple administration of 
justice all of these villages have been made townships by action of the 
county commissioners. These are judicial townships and thus retain 
something of the original, so far as administration of justice is con¬ 
cerned, but the original township of Euclid has vanished from the earth. 

But something of the early and later religious organizations, connected 
with the original township and its brood of villages that have taken its 
place, are given, as history that attaches to both periods. From a sketch 
of the Euclid Baptist Church prepared by Rev. S. B. Webster and 
previously published we glean this information: On April 27, 1820, six 
brethren and five sisters organized the church. Of these eleven members 
none were living in 1880; Calvin Dille, the last of the original members, 
died in 1875. Before the church was organized there had been meetings 
held, conducted by Elder Goodell and others at various places. In Sep¬ 
tember of 1824 Elder Hanks, Deacon Dille and a Mr. Libbey were sent 
as delegates by the church to secure admission to Grand River Confer¬ 
ence. Their mission was successful and the church was thereupon duly 
admitted. Ten years later they entered the Rocky River Association. The 
church was then given wide jurisdiction, with headquarters at Euclid 
Creek. Meetings were held at Chagrin River, at the residence of S. D. 
Pelton on the ridge, and a frame church was built on land given for that 
purpose by John Wilcox. This building was thirty feet square. 
The first proposition in financing the building was the sale of pews at 
$12 each. That was changed, the pews to be sold at auction, 20 per cent 
to be paid in ashes and the balance in grain. Wheat was rated at $1 
per bushel, rye at 75 cents, and corn at 50 cents. John Wilcox, William 
Treat, and S. D. Pelton were the building committee. Two years before 
this, Elder Hanks had been engaged as pastor, he to give two-thirds of 
his time and his compensation fixed at 200 bushels of wheat. The 
scarcity of money required all contracts to be made in this way. Practically 
all business was by barter and trade. The following year the pastor’s 
salary was increased to 300 bushels of wheat, but he was required to 
devote his whole time to the church. Of this church, Solomon Dominick 
was pastor in 1830, and in 1845 it was incorporated. Two years later 
a new brick church was built, or rather started, for it was not completed 
for several years. Most of the contributions were in wheat and ashes. 
Rev. S. B. Webster, from whose sketch these facts were taken, was the 
pastor in the ’70s, and the deacons were: John Aiken and S. D. Pelton; 
clerk, J. S. Charles, and trustees, Henry Priday, L. J. Neville, S. S. Lang- 
share, and Warren Gardner. Saint John’s German Evangelical Lutheran 
Church was organized in 1845 with twelve families. They bought an 
acre of land on the State Road and built a frame church and schoolhouse. 
Rev. H. Keuhn was the first pastor and the first teacher. Soon after they 
bought ten acres more of land and built a residence for the pastor. In 
1862 they built a new church, using the old church building for a school- 
house. Reverend Ernst was the first pastor and he was succeeded by 
Rev. W. Hurman, who was the first pastor in the new building. Ernest 
Klaustermeier, and Ernest Melcher, and F. Melcher of Euclid, F. Rolf 
and Harry Dreman, of East Cleveland, and Henry Klaustermeier, of May- 
field, have served as deacons. The First Presbyterian Church of Notting¬ 
ham was organized in 1870. Rev. Frank McGinnis was the first pastor 
and he was followed by Rev. M. A. Sackett. Before that, however, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


257 


Saint Paul’s Catholic Church was organized. It was located between 
Nottingham and Euclid Village in 1861 and a church was built that year. 
The first pastor was Rev. Thomas Salenn. Rev. Edward Harman, and 
Rev. Anthony Martin were among the early pastors. In 1877 Saint 
Joseph’s Chapel of Collinwood was separately organized, but put under 
the care of the pastor of St. John’s. In connection with this was founded 
a parochial school, which began with a large and growing attendance. 
In all the history of the townships we have given something of the early 
history of the churches. At the first meeting of the Early Settlers’ Asso¬ 
ciation held in 1880, with Harvey Rice as its president, Judge Tilden was 
one of the speakers. Among other things he said: “Well, we had religion 
then. I think I was more pious in those days than I have been since. 
I know that those old Methodist preachers, who came around with leg¬ 
gings all covered with mud, used to meet at the school house, and there 
was a kind of earnestness about them, a force and incisiveness in their talk 
that made a very deep and powerful impression on my young mind at 
that time, more so than since. (Laughter.) There was no ostentation, no 
display; everything plain and straightforward. I recollect that there 
was a period during the early history when religion was the main topic of 
conversation. Every old farmer who was interested in religion had a 
rusty old book in his pocket, and there was a controversy between my 
Brother Hayden’s sect, called Campbellites, and the Orthodox believers, 
and many a long tedious struggle have I heard between them. Every man 
was gifted upon that subject. They would quote the text of Scripture, 
fire, and fire back, and it was entertaining and instructive, and cultivated 
a very high moral feeling in all classes of society.” 

The schools have kept pace with the march of events, the district 
school, handmaiden of the survey and civil township, has passed with the 
township. Except the Village of Euclid, which has its own school gov¬ 
ernment, the schools are under the government of the county school super¬ 
intendent. South Euclid Village has two buildings, the high school and 
the grammar school, with a force of twenty-two teachers, and an enroll¬ 
ment of 585 pupils. The graduating class of this year numbered sixteen. 
Lyndhurst has one building, employs seven teachers, and has an enroll¬ 
ment of 150 pupils. Richmond Heights has one building, employes two 
teachers, and has an enrollment of sixty-four pupils. These schools com¬ 
prise what is called the South Euclid district and are under the direct care 
of Superintendent O. J. Korb. The high school building at South Euclid 
is exceedingly attractive and is located on a site commanding a beautiful 
view of the territory, once a wilderness. The schools of Euclid Village 
are housed in five buildings, the Euclid High School on Chardon Road, 
the Shore High School, on Lake Shore Boulevard at the junction of Bill 
and Babbett roads or streets, the Roosevelt School, a grade school, on Cut 
Road at Monterey, and the Noble School, a grade school, on St. Clair 
Avenue and Babbett Road, and the Boulevard School, on Lake Shore 
Boulevard, near Upton. The principals are: R. B. Sharrock, of Euclid; 
D. E. Metts, of Shore; Edna Felt, of Roosevelt; Bessie Wills, of Noble, 
and Rubie Hahn, of the Boulevard School. The total number of teach¬ 
ers are seventy-five and the enrollment 1,800. There were twenty-three in 
the graduating class this year. The superintendent is Wilbert A. Franks, 
who will enter upon his fourth year in September. He has given many 
years to the teachers’ profession, although a man in the prime of life. 
He has taught in other parts of Ohio, and was thirteen years a teacher in 
Colorado, and during a portion of that time was an instructor in the State 
Normal School of Colorado. The Village of Euclid, once rivalled by 


258 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Collamer and Collinwood, has a population of 7,000 and is the largest 
child of the township. 

As the township of Euclid exists only in history it will be interesting to 
give some of the officers who have served in the early days. Among the 
trustees have been Elisha Graham, David Dille, Thomas Mcllrath, 
*Samuel Dodge, Abraham Bishop, Christopher Colson, L. R. Dille, 
Elis Lee, Jedediah Crocker, Dan Hudson, Seth Doan, Nehemiah Dille, 
James Strong, Samuel Mcllrath, John Ruple, Thomas Gray, Enoch Mur¬ 
ray, John Wilcox, J. Shaw, Elihu Richmond, Abijah Crosby, William 
Case, John Aikens, Ahaz Merchant, Asa Weston, William Camp, Ben¬ 
jamin Jones, Samuel Ruple, S. D. Pelton, Peter Rush, John Cone, 
Abraham D. Slaght, John Smith. Wakeman Penfield, John Welch, Wil¬ 
liam Upson, William Treat, Asper Hendershot, John Stoner, William 
Nott, John Doan, Hiram Mcllrath, John D. Stillman, Henry Shepherd, 
Benjamin B. Beers, Virgil Spring, B. B. Beers, Anson Aikens, Joseph 
Pelton, William West, J. L. Aldrich, Jonathan Farr, H. M. Eddy, C. S. 
White, Wells Minor, George Rathbun, James Eddy, William Marshall, 
Charles Moses, G. W. Goodworth, A. B. Dille, David Waters, William 
Gaylord, Ernest Melchor, S. Woodmansee, Justice Shaffer, and George 
Smith. Among the clerks have been Lewis R. Dille, William Coleman, 
John Wilcox, M. W. Bartlett, T. T. White, Aaron Throop, Charles Farr, 
S'. W. Dille, Henry Moses, E. J. Hulbert, A. C. Stevens, E. P. Haskell, 
A. S.. Jones, L. J. Neville, Joseph Day, W. W. Dille, and Stephen White. 
The treasurers from 1910 to the ’80s, a period of seventy years, have 
been Abraham Bishop, Enoch Murray, David Dille, Samuel W. Dille, 
Alexander Mcllrath, Samuel Ruple, Timothy Doan, S. D. Pelton, Elihu 
Rockwell, John Wilcox, John Storer, Alvin Hollister, P. P. Condit, 
Sargent Currier, Mvndert Wimple, Johnson Ogram, Charles Moses, 
Charles Farr, Nelson Moses, L. J. Neville, Morris Porter, A. C. Gardner, 
and E. D. Pelton. 

Louis Harms, whom we have mentioned in connection with the grape 
industry, always refused public office, hence his name does not appear in 
the foregoing list. His family consisted of Carl, born on Kelly’s Island, 
Louis, Julia, and Richard, born on Put-in-Bay Island, and Hulda and 
Irma, born at Euclid. He died in 1888. It may be said of his enterprise 
outside of the grape industry that he was the first man in the township, 
perhaps the county, to bore for natural gas, sinking a well 855 feet. A. D. 
Walworth, another vineyardist, served as justice of the peace in Notting¬ 
ham for twenty years. Morris Porter was prominent for many years in 
county politics and was a member of the Sixty-ninth General Assembly of 
Ohio. Of John Doan, who was one of the early trustees, we quote from 
the annals of the Early Settlers’ Association of 1881, being an article taken 
from the Sunday Voice: “John Doan, of Collamer, the oldest living 
pioneer of Cuyahoga County, came to Cleveland in 1801. He was born 
June 28, 1798, and is now eighty-three years old. The distinction of being 
the oldest male inhabitant of the county (the person with the longest 
residence in the county is probably the idea intended to convey) invests 
him with public interest. The subject of this sketch was born in 1798 and 
was brought to Cleveland in 1801, so that he has been a resident here 
seventy-eight years.” We have referred to the tavern opened by Paul P. 
Condit a little after 1814. His hostelry was called the “Farmers’ Inn.” 
He married Phebe Mcllrath, “a young lady of Euclid, who possessed just 

*Note— Samuel Dodge was the grandfather of Samuel D. Dodge, who 
served as United States district attorney at Cleveland, whose sister married 
Horace A. Hutchins, a brother of John C. Hutchins, former judge of the Common 
Pleas Court. 



THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


259 


the amiable, patient yet efficient traits of character that are requisite in a 
wife destined to share the trials and hardship of pioneer life.” Mr. Condit 
and his wife conducted the tavern and gave it a wide reputation for good 
cheer and ample fare. Thus it received a liberal and profitable patronage. 
Mr. and Mrs. Condit conducted this inn or tavern for thirty years and it 
was a favorite resort not only of travelers but of social parties from the 
region around. Mrs. Condit lived to be nearly ninety years of age. While 
mistress of the Farmers’ Inn she raised five children, did nearly all the 
housework, cooking and getting meals for travelers, washing and caring 
for her children, and spinning the flax and wool required for clothing the 
family. She often would spin in the evening so that the noise of her wheel 
would drown the howling of the wolves and save the children from getting 
scared. She paid three dollars a pound for tea, which was brought from 
Pittsburg in saddlebags, and it was only used in the family on special 
days, Sundays and washing days. They made their own ink out of maple 
bark and copperas, found wild goose quills on the bank of the lake for 
pens, and paid 25 cents postage on letters. The school in that neighbor¬ 
hood was taught by the husband of a Mclrath, the sister of Mrs. Condit’s 
father, a Mr. Shaw. He it was who endowed the old Shaw Academy. 
Mrs. Condit said that when the new frame church was built, with a steeple, 
it was the marvel of the times and people came from miles around to see 
it. Mrs. Condit related that her Aunt Shaw invited company one day and 
was expecting flour from the mill to make a shortcake, but was disap¬ 
pointed. It took three days to go to mill as they went to Willoughby. 
Being disappointed in the flour, Aunt Shaw stewed a pumpkin and flavored 
it in such a way that it made a good substitute for cake. It is constantly 
the case in studying the annals of the early days that reference is made 
only to the head of the family, the man, but the last incidents will show 
something of the woman’s side of pioneering. 

We will quote in closing this chapter on Euclid the closing remarks in 
an address by the Hon. Harvey Rice: 

“We live in an age of marvels. In fact, the age of miracles has not 
passed. The century is full of them, full of marvelous inventions and 
improvements, which have comparatively relieved labor of its servility, and 
elevated the laborer. It is the divinity of modern science that has wrought 
these marvels. If such are the marvels of this century, what will be the 
wonders wrought in the next century, or in the next ten centuries ? These 
are unanswerable questions. Yet we know that Nature has a language of 
her own, and that she patiently awaits interpreters. 

It is contrast as well as distance that ‘lends enchantment to the view.’ 
The living present is destined to become in turn the remote past. Its relics 
will then be sought and treasured as curiosities. There will ever be a 
present and a past. The one will ever smile at the peculiar manners and 
customs of the other, while each will ever assume to be wiser than the 
offier. Thus life has its phases, and every age its mirror. If we would 
acquire true wisdom, we must interrogate the past, and appropriate its 
lessons. In doing this we should not only acknowledge the merits of the 
past, but aspire to still sublimer heights in the scale of true manhood— 
a manhood that exalts itself and is worthy of divine exaltation.” 


Vol. 1-9 


CHAPTER XXI 
WARRENSVILLE 

This is township 7, range 11, of the original survey of townships 
of the Western Reserve. It is southeast from Cleveland, north of 
Bedford, west of Orange, and is bounded on the north by East Cleveland 
and Euclid, and on the west by Newburgh and East Cleveland. It is 
level with a soil varying from stiff clay to a light loam. The streams 
are small and hence the water power that was so much sought by the 
early settlers is limited. It was heavily timbered like the rest. The 
first attempt at settlement was made in 1807, by Horace Burroughs, 
Rudolph Cattern and Jacob Cattern. They came intending to locate near 
the center. On their way through the woods they came upon a black 
bear, who took to a tree! Just how they were armed is not recorded, 
but they decided to cut the tree and get their game when it fell. The 
three chopped in turn until the tree was about ready to fall, when the 
others left Jacob Cattern to make the finishing strokes, and went forward 
to greet bruin as he came to the ground. They killed the bear, but 
death was with them in an unexpected manner. Going back to the stump 
they found Jacob dead, killed by a large limb broken from a neighboring 
tree as this one fell. Their elation at getting the big game was turned 
to mourning by the discovery of this sad accident, and death of their 
comrade. They abandoned the enterprise, carried the body of their dead 
comrade to a burial place and returned to the East. 

The first settler of the township was Daniel Warren. He came from 
New Hampshire to Painesville in the fall of 1808. He was very poor in 
this world’s goods. Had a few household goods but not an elaborate 
outfit. A barrel set on end, covered with the end-board of the wagon 
had to serve as a table at first. The cooking and baking was done in a five 
quart iron kettle. The next year he moved to Newburgh. Here the 
family remained while he built a log cabin on his farm in the new town¬ 
ship, walking back and forth to his work, two and a half miles. It was 
built without the use of a single nail, a commodity quite useful and much 
used in later years. He moved in January 4, 1810. The moving 
is thus described by himself: “I procured a horse on which Mrs. Warren 
and her three weeks’ old babe rode, the boy of two years I carried on my 
back, while neighbor Prentiss, with an ox team, hauled our few household 
things. This trip was over two and a half miles through the woods, and 
Mrs. Warren remarked, ‘We left New Hampshire to go into the wilder¬ 
ness, and I guess we have made it out.’ ” The “first run of sledding” 
after the Warrens moved to their log cabin home, a happy party of their 
friends from Newburgh and Cleveland, to the number of fifty, came out 
for a “house warming” and crowded the little cabin. They had a jolly 
time- and among other things held a formal meeting and proposed to name 
the new township. As Mrs. Warren was the first and only woman 
residing in the township, it was suggested that she select the name. She 
proposed Warrensville and her choice was adopted by acclamation. Thus 
township 7 of range 11 was named, and when the civil township was 
organized the name was retained. Occasionally in the historical annals 

260 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


2G1 


of Cuyahoga County we have a chance to bring the women into notice 
and this instance is a break in the usual course of local history, which 
recites in detail masculine activities in the main. A woman named 
Warrensville. Of course, womanlike in the selection of the name, she 
was thinking of honoring the name of her husband, the first settler. 
The house warming party went home long after midnight and all remem¬ 
bered for long this enjoyable, and, we may say, historic party. Mrs. War¬ 
ren was a true pioneer woman. Her husband was a bricklayer and followed 
his trade in addition to clearing the farm. Thus she was often left alone 
with the children. Bears and wolves would come around the cabin at 
night, rather disquieting callers for a lone woman in a wilderness miles 
away from any other human habitation. She could not telephone, she 
could not start the phonograph, nor play the piano for diversion. She 
could not strike a match to look into a dark corner, or listen to the latest 
music over the radio. We could continue the list, but sufficient has 
been included to give us a thought backward to the pioneer woman who 
helped build this civilization with all its greater advantages. Mrs. Warren 
once came home from Newburgh and was followed closely, on all sides, by 



Benjamin Fitch 
The first chairmaker. 


a full pack of wolves for it was getting dark when she reached her door 
in breathless fear. She lived out her life in Warrensville, surviving her 
husband, Daniel Warren, who died in 1862, seven years. Of their chil¬ 
dren, the babe that was with them when they came to the log house as 
first settlers, only lived a year. This was the first death in the township. 
In their family also occurred the first birth in the township, that of William 
H. Warren, who was born December 26, 1812. Other members of the 
family of children were Hiram V., Moses N., James M., Othello, Paulina, 
and Julia C. To add to the colony of Warrens in the township, Moses 
Warren, the father of Daniel, came to the township after the War of 1812 
and settled on lot 54. His sons, besides Daniel, were William and Moses. 
To add to the family numbers but not to the name, a father-in-law of 
Daniel, James Prentiss, came with his family and settled on lot 54. He 
was a Revolutionary soldier. He lived only five years after coming to the 
township but left a family consisting of four sons, Robert, James, Samuel, 
and Cyrus. The last named, Cyrus Prentiss, moved to Ravenna, and 
among other business activities, was the first president of the Cleveland 
and Pittsburgh Railway. Asa Stiles came to the township in 1812 and 
settled in the Warren neighborhood. He came from New York state. He 
had three sons, Amos, Hiram, and Wilbur. In the same year Jacob Rus¬ 
sell came from the same state and located on lot 23. He was an elderly 
man when he came and died eleven years after at the age of seventy-five. 


262 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


His sons were named Ralph, Rodney, Elijah, Elisha, and Return; nearly 
all of this family joined the Shakers, of whom we will speak after this. 
Peleg Brown settled on lot 63 shortly after the Russells came, and Fred 
G. Williams on lot 41. Brown remained until 1837 when he moved to 
Indiana, and Williams joined the Mormons and drifted to the west with 
them. Benjamin Thorp came in 1813. His farm was on lot 62. Here he 
remained for fifteen years, when he moved to Michigan. William Sickel 
came at the same time and was a near neighbor of Thorp. He was a shoe¬ 
maker, perhaps the first in the township. He worked at his trade in con¬ 
nection with farming and clearing until his death in 1836. Without a map 
of Warrensville as subdivided into lots in the survey it will be difficult to 
gather from the location of the first settlements any accurate idea, but the 
numbers will give some general idea of the location. We have a number 
of settlements noted in 1815. Josiah Abbott settled on lot 54 and some 
years later moved to Missouri. The same year Abraham S. Honey and 
Chester Risley came. They got interested in the Shakers and joined the 
North Union Community. Caleb Baldwin settled on lot 48 at the same 
time, where he remained until led off by the Mormons. After this Enoch 
Gleason located on lot 67. He came with his family from Berkshire, 




Rocker Made by Benjamin Fitch in 1815 
Sold for five bushels of wheat. 

Massachusetts. Lot 67 was east of the center and this was the only family 
living in that part of the township before 1820, except the Baldwins. 
Gleason had seven sons, Milo, Ariel, Ephraim, Almon, Enoch, Perry, and 
Loren. Jedediah Hubbell came in 1815, made some improvements and 
moved away but came back in a few years and was long a resident of the 
township. He had a large family. A grandson, Charles Harold Hubbell, 
born in Warrensville, in 1836, had a long service in the Civil war, was a 
member of Col. Jack Casement’s regiment, when first enlisted, and in the 
closing years of the war was assigned as chief clerk in the quartermaster’s 
department at the headquarters of Gen. John M. Palmer. Quite early 
Ansel Young settled on lot 42, Gabriel Culver on lot 83, Reuben and Beck¬ 
with Cook on lot 74, Aruna R. Baldwin on lot 13, Moses Higby on lot 105, 
and Nehemiah Hand on lot 25. Most of the families, of whom the head 
has been named, moved on farther west in a few years. 

John and Luther Prentiss, probably without families, came from New 
Hampshire, in 1819. They drove a one-horse team and the trip occupied 
twenty-eight days. John took up a farm on lot 38, and Luther on lot 13. 
John was a resident of the township fifteen years and Luther during his 
lifetime. As an evidence that he was single when he came, his sole pos¬ 
sessions consisted of one suit of clothes, an extra pair of shoes, and a razor. 
As an evidence that he was a thrifty pioneer, he had after some years as a 
pioneer resident of Warrensville, 70 acres of land, paid for, and had raised 
a family of six children. Three years before this the civil township of 







THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


263 


Warrensville had been formed. The voters met at the house of Josiah 
Abbott, November 7, 1816, and Daniel Warren was the chairman of the 
meeting. James Prentiss, Peleg Brown, and William Sickel were the 
judges of election, one of the three acting as clerk. The officers elected were 
James Prentiss, Peleg Brown, and William Sickel, trustees; F. G. Wil¬ 
liams, clerk; Josiah Abbott, treasurer; Daniel Warren, justice of the peace; 
Robert Prentiss, constable; Moses Warren and Robert Prentiss, poor 
masters; Benjamin Thorp and Abraham Honey, fence viewers. The com¬ 
mission of Daniel Warren as justice of the peace was dated January 6, 
.1817, and was signed by Gov. Thomas Worthington. At this first election 
James Johnson and Humphrey Nichols were the only voters who were not 
elected to office. 

Col. John E. Adams came to the township in 1826 and located on 
lot 51. Here he built the first and only pioneer stone house in the town¬ 
ship. A list of the heads of families or householders in the township by 
1829 will give a practical illustration of the progress of the settlement of 
the township following the housewarming at the log cabin of Daniel War¬ 
ren, and will include many names that are familiar to the people of Cleve¬ 
land and Cuyahoga County: Col. John E. Adams, William Addison, Peleg 
Brown, Gabriel Culver, Sylvester Carber, David Benjamin, Jedediah Hub- 
bell, Appleton Collister, James Johnson, Orrin J. Hubbell, Thomas Kneale, 
Asa Stiles, Abel Shepard, Daniel S. Tyler, Benjamin Thorp, Daniel War¬ 
ren, Moses Warren, Moses Warren, Jr., William Kelly, Isaac Cooper, 
Return Russell, Salmon Buell, Benjamin Sawyer, Elisha Russell, Andrew 
Barber, John Woodruff, Ralph Russell, Moor Bell, Enoch Gleason, 
Ebenezer Russell, Beckwith Cook, Ephraim Gleason, N. C. Hains, 
Nehemiah Hand, James Lee, Daniel Pillsbury, Job Hand, Thomas Rad- 
cliff, Lyman Wight, Oliver Ransom, Caleb Baldwin, F. L. Burnett, Joseph 
Clyne, Nathan Goodspeed, Ansel Jenny, William Fairchild, Dayton Thorp, 
Isaac Lassler, Jefferson Wallace, Bazaleel Thorp, Andrew Wilson, Wil¬ 
liam Watterson, Warner Thorp, Thomas Collister, John Kelly, William 
Cain, Thomas Cain, George Kent, and William Kerruish. 

The last named came from the Isle of Man, one of a large number of 
Manxmen who settled in Warrensville in this early period of the town¬ 
ship, William Kerruish. He was the father of W. S. Kerruish of the 
Cleveland bar, of whom we will speak more particularly in a later chapter. 
W. S. Kerruish was born in Warrensville in 1831 and is now ninety-two 
years of age. He goes to his law office almost daily, but contents himself 
largely with reading from the literature of all time and does not practice 
law in the courts. His loss of memory of names and faces is quite general. 
In an address before the Early Settlers’ Association of Cleveland delivered 
forty years ago, he speaks of his early life and of the pioneer Manxmen. 
He says: “Not long ago I happened upon one of Judge Tilden’s speeches 
in which he gave a mirth provoking account of the terror caused him on 
his advent into Ohio by the long howling of the wolves, as they surrounded 
his first night’s lodging in the Buckeye State, and how gladly he would 
have deeded away, had he possessed it, the fee simple title to the whole 
Western Reserve for a foothold once more on the soil of old Connecticut. 
My earliest recollections are of a much later period—of an age of bottom¬ 
less mud, and of new fields covered with stumps—the mud and stump 
period. I well recollect coming into the city from Warrensville by the 
present Woodland Avenue road—how we first came to the two principal 
landmarks—the Cutter mansion and Doctor Long’s house, and what a 
weary quagmire there was yet to pass, what a stretch of quagmire and 
country before we reached the ‘city,’ and how we passed the tempting 
apple orchard which then covered the now thickly populated space extend- 


264 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


ing eastward from the present junction of Woodland and Broadway. 
Many reminiscences of Warrensville life might be recalled. You are most 
of you aware that emigration from the Isle of Man to this locality com¬ 
menced comparatively early and has been very large—large considering its 
source, for the island is but thirty miles long by thirteen wide, and half 
of it mountains at that. As indicative of the number of this class of our 
population and the readiness with which they, as a general thing, identified 
themselves with the interests and advancement of their new home, I may 
say that upon an estimate made some time since, the survivors of that 
emigration, with their descendants, together with later arrivals, number in 
this county alone between 3,000 and 4,000. As an instance of the way 
they rooted themselves in the land, it is, or was a fact, a short time ago, 
that if you took a southeasterly course from a point in Newburgh Town¬ 
ship, you might pass for five or six miles along the road with Manx land¬ 
holders continuously on either side. The tradition of the origin of this 
immigration is as follows: A native of the island, who was something of a 
traveler, who had been on the medical staff of the British army abroad, 
and who among his wanderings came to America, visited the falls of 
Niagara, passed along the southern shores of Lake Erie, going through 
this place and returned to his island home. He was a man of superior 
judgment and education; and though this must have been anterior to 1820, 
as I have heard it related, he foresaw and predicted that this region between 
the waters of ‘the beautiful river’ and the southern shores of Lake Erie 
was destined to be the seat of a mighty people. In the year 1824, or there¬ 
abouts, one Manx family came and settled near Painesville, mistaking it 
for the town founded by Moses Cleveland. Various letters written home 
by this single settler and passed from hand to hand produced great excite¬ 
ment in that small and far-off community. It was afterwards said that 
the marvelous accounts of deer and turkeys running at large, and forest 
trees distilling sugar, and land to be got for the asking, were not sufficiently 
explained, and that the more sober colors of the picture were left out.” 
Mr. ICerruish referred to William Kelly and wife, who settled in New¬ 
burgh, Rev. Thomas Corlett, Thomas Quayle, Patrick Cannell, and Deacon 
Benjamin Rouse. 

Perhaps the most unique among the pioneers of Warrensville were the 
Shakers. Their community, occupying the territory which is now Shaker 
Heights village, was early established but has passed into history. The 
foundress of this religious denomination was Ann Lee, who was "born in 
Toad Lane, Manchester, England, in 1742. Her father was a blacksmith 
and she was employed at one time as cook in the infirmary of her native 
town. It is recorded that she was a quiet child of a visionary temperament. 
She joined a small religious body called the French Prophets. The leader 
of this organization was one Jane Wardlv, who was considered by her 
followers as “the spirit of John the Baptist operating in the female line ” 
Ihese people were called Shakers because like the early Quakers they 
were seized with violent shakings and tremblings when under the influence 
of strong religious emotions. Ann Lee married a blacksmith, whose char¬ 
acter was very bad and their four children died in infancy. She took the 
lead in the Shaker society and promulgated the doctrine of celibacy. She 
preached that the second coming of Christ would be in the form of a 
woman. They argued that as Eve was the mother of all living, they could 
recognize in the new leader of their sect the spiritual mother. They were 
very zealous, preaching in season and out, and suffered from opposition 
by the constituted authorities and from mob violence. In 1774 Ann and 
eight of her disciples immigrated to America. One break in their ranks 
occurred after their arrival in New York. Abraham Stanley, displeased 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


265 


with his wife’s celibate creed, abandoned her for another woman. Ann 
and her followers settled at Watervliet, a small place up the Hudson, but 
were imprisoned on refusal to take the oath, being thought unfavorable to 
the Revolutionary cause. On being released they began preaching and 
made many converts. Ann Lee died in 1780 and the head of the church 
has been vested since in a man. Being to some extent apart from all 
regular society, many charges were made against them of a scandalous 
nature, but these were outlived and they soon came to be highly respected. 
The official name of the general organization is “The United Society of 
Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.” In 1870 there were eighteen 
Shaker communities in the United States. The one at Warrensville was 
known as the North Union Community. The origin of this community is 
attributed to Ralph Russell, who was one of the early trustees of War¬ 
rensville township. He owned a farm on section 22, or lot 22, of the 
township. He became interested in the new creed, perhaps through the 
labors of some missionary, visited a neighboring community at Union Vil¬ 
lage and joined the Shakers. He came home a missionary and proselyted 
quite actively. Then Richard W. Pelham and James Hodge, elders of the 
Union Village Community, came in 1822 and they with Russell made many 
converts. It was announced that Russell had had a vision, that a strong 
ray of light came from Union Village in a straight horizontal line and 
touched a point in Warrensville near Russell’s home. The two elders 
stayed six months and superintended the founding of the community. All 
Shaker communities were socialistic in their temporal arrangements and 
the new converts began at once building log cabins and clearing land. 
In the spring of 1823 the trustees of Union Village bought a large tract 
of land in Warrensville. They got donations of land and bought still 
more and in four years Ashbel Kitchell was appointed presiding elder and 
the Warrensville community was launched as a separate entity. The 
equality of the sexes was brought into exercise, two of each sex governing 
its own side of the house. The Covenant, which was the pledge of organ¬ 
ization, was signed September 8, 1828. In the signing the sexes were 
separated as at their meetings: Elijah Russell, James S. Prescott, Samuel 
Russell, Chester Risley, Return Russell, Elisha Russell, John P. Root, 
William Andrews, Edward Russell, William Johnson, Daniel N. Bird, 
Ambrose Bragg, Benjamin Hughey, Barney Cosset, Riley Honey, Ebenezer 
Russell, and then Mary E. Russell, Prudence Sawyer, Emma H. Russell, 
Lydia Russell I, Lydia Russell II, Jerusha Russell I, Jerusha Russell II, 
Clarissa Risley, Clarinda Baird, Melinda Russell, Hanna Addison, Caro¬ 
line Bears, Candace P. Russell, Mercy Sawyer, Esther Russell, Abigail 
Russell, Phebe Russell, Phebe Andrews, Almeda Cosset, Adaline Russell, 
and Diana Carpenter. In the fall sixteen more brethren and twenty-seven 
more sisters signed the Covenant and became members of the community. 

We quote from reminiscences of Melinda Russell, one of the signers 
of the Covenant, which were written forty years ago. “In 1811 my grand¬ 
father, Jacob Russell, sold his farm and gristmill on the Connecticut River 
and took a contract for land in Newburgh (now Warrensville), Ohio. 
His oldest son Elijah, my father, shouldered his knapsack and came to 
Ohio to get the lot surveyed, he made some improvements, selected a place 
for building, and returned, coming back the next year with my brother 
Ralph. They cleared a piece of land, planted corn, built a log house, and 
then went back to Connecticut to assist in moving the family. They 
formed an odd procession, father’s brother Elisha, and brother-in-law, 
Hart Risley, accompanied them with their families. The wagons were 
drawn with oxen, my father walking all the way so as to drive, while 
grandmother rode on horseback. Then father returned for his family. 


266 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


We embarked at Sackett’s Harbor, August 1st and arrived in Cleveland, 
August 31. There being no harbor at that time the landing was effected 
by means of rowboats. We then pulled ourselves up the bank by the scrub 
oaks that lined it, and walked to the hotel kept by Major Carter. This 
hotel was then the only frame house in Cleveland. Father was taken sick 
with ague the next day after we arrived, so our house was built slowly. 
We moved in the last of November, without door or window, using 
blankets for night protection. At that time two of the children were sick 
with the ague. Father, when the chills and fever left him for the day, 
worked, putting poles together in the form of bedsteads, a table upon which 
to put what little we could get to eat, and benches to sit upon.” 

This community of Shakers, apart in a sense from the rest of the 
settlers, was yet a community of pioneers enduring the same lack of con¬ 
veniences and grappling with the great task of subduing the wilderness, as 
shown by the extract from the experiences of the Russell family. It was 
located in the northwest part of the township. The first meetings were 
held in a log cabin, which they erected near that of Ralph Russell. This 
was undoubtedly the spot believed to be divinely selected and designated 
by the ray of light. This log cabin served as a meeting house until 1826 
when a frame house for the center family was built. The stone work of 
this house was done by James Prentiss, who came from Cleveland, and in 
the meantime was converted to the Shaker creed and joined the community. 
Their numbers grew, and their possessions, until they held 1,400 acres of 
land in addition to the original tract turned into the community by 
Mr. Russell. They educated their children but as a part of the whole 
community. The Shaker tract was made a separate school district and it 
received its share of the state school fund. We have just referred to 
the signing of the Covenant. After this was signed a perfect organization 
was effected. James S. Prescott and Chester Risley were chosen elders 
for the men, and Prudence Sawyer and Eunice Russell, elderesses for the 
women. There was much religious enthusiasm and the church was called 
“The True Millennial Church.” The preaching was by elders from the 
parent body, Union Village community of Warren County. As they grew 
in numbers they were divided into families. There was the East Family 
of twenty-five, with John P. Root and Charles Taylor, elders, and Rachel 
Russell and Harriet Snyder, elderesses. There was the Center Family of 
thirty members, with Samuel Miner and George W. Ingalls, elders, and 
Lusetta Walker and Clyminia Miner, elderesses. There was the ’Mill 
Family of twelve members, with Curtis Cramer and Watson Andrews, 
elders, and Lydia Cramer and Temperance Devan as their elderesses. The 
duties of these officers were largely spiritual. The temporal affairs were 
controlled by a board of trustees. These trustees were James Prescott, 
George W. Ingalls and Samuel S. Miner, and they were assisted by three 
office deaconesses, Candace Russell, Abigail Russell, and Margaret Sawyer. 
Each family had a comfortable residence, connected with shops and build¬ 
ings where many were employed, but agriculture was the principal occupa¬ 
tion. In 1849 a large frame meeting house was erected at the Center 
Family. It was 100 by 50 feet and with twenty-feet posts. This had to 
do with spiritual matters but temporalities advanced in the same propor¬ 
tion. In 1829 the community built a fine gristmill, with two overshot 
wheels and two runs of stones, and soon had a linseed oil mill, and a better 
and larger sawmill. In 1850 they built a large brick woolen factory. They 
had a woodenware factory, a tannery, a broom factory, and small factories 
for varied manufactures. Their products were notably good and thev had 
a ready sale. As the members of the community grew old the Shakers' were 
compelled to employ outside help to work on the farms and in the shops* 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


267 


As death thinned their numbers, enough converts were not secured to take 
their places. This thrifty and model socialistic community united in 
religious zeal and holding to the doctrine of celibacy prospered and came 
to be a large factor in the development of Warrensville. By 1877 meet¬ 
ings in the large meeting house were discontinued. Before that the forms 
of worship had changed, and marching substituted for dancing. Today 
they exist as a community only in history and the thriving and attractive 
village of Shaker Heights, a community of social life, but not socialistic, 
has taken their place. 

The first schoolhouse in Warrensville arose log by log, steered and 
propelled by brawny hands in 1815. Its walls were of rough round logs 
with a stick chimney backed with stones and a fireplace that received logs 
eight feet long. Previous to the building of this temple of learning there 
had been schools taught in the log cabins of settlers. The first school 
teacher was Miss Hanna Stiles, the second Leora Hubbell, and the third 
Mary Stillman. The first teacher in the first schoolhouse was William 
Addison, father of H. M. Addison, long a citizen and welfare worker of 
Cleveland. The first singing school was taught in that schoolhouse and 
at a meeting of the Early Settlers’ Association, held in Cleveland forty- 
three years ago, H. M. Addison, “Father” Addison, as he was called, 
brought a copy of a singing book used in that school. At the first school 
in this building pupils came from the Russell, Honey, Warren and Prentiss 
families. Addison was followed by Ansel Young, and he by Azial Aldrich. 
In 1830 four school districts were established and later there were eight 
or nine. In 1875 the school enumeration of the township was, males, 
234, and females, 221, and a fine building costing nearly $300,000 had 
been erected at the Center. This building was erected in 1878 and the 
school board was composed of J. G. Gleason, president, and V. D. Ham¬ 
mond, clerk, and the following members: Jacob Steuer, J. G. Gleason, 
Thomas Nelson, Robert Carran, Seth Knowles, Robert Drake, James W. 
Smith, and Lafayette Conkey. Exclusive of the villages, which had been 
formed from the township, including only Warrensville township as it 
exists today, the schools are in the one building at the Center. There are 
six teachers employed and the enrollment is 205. The principal is William 
O. Myers. 

The first store in the township was kept by Parker Boynton. He sold 
to E. W. Brunson. When it again changed hands the firm name was 
Birchard and Brewer, then John M. Burke, then William H. Warren. 
The first postmaster was Milo Gleason, who conducted the office at his 
house. He was followed by the following postmasters in their order: 
Amos Birchard, John McKee, Chester Butler, John M. Burke, W. H. 
Warren, Edwin Taylor, and D. Nowak, who had a small store and post- 
office with a tri-weekly mail from Chagrin Falls. Outside of the Shaker 
community the manufacturing interests of Warrensville have been very 
limited. A steam sawmill was operated west of the Center by William R. 
Truesdell. It was moved and taken over by T. J. Radcliff, who ground 
feed and had a cider mill in connection with it. On Mill Creek two saw¬ 
mills were operated, one by Palmer and one by Flick. The Palmer mill 
started as a water mill but later applied steam power. The Flick mill was 
soon discontinued. The first sawmill in the township was started by Ezra 
Smith on Shaker Brook in 1820, a gristmill was afterwards operated by 
the same power. Mr. Kerruish has referred to the mud and stump period. 
This followed the blazed path and preceded the advent of the plank road. 
In 1817 the township was divided into four road districts and the super¬ 
visors were Moses Warren, Robert Prentiss, Benjamin Thorp and Serenus 
Burnet. Under these men the citizens worked out their poll tax, which was 


268 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


a requirement of three days’ work for each man, regardless of his wealth 
in property. The fellow whose sole possessions were a straw hat, overalls 
and suspenders, and cowhide boots, came under this requirement in com¬ 
mon with the largest landowner. Their work was done with plow and 
scraper and shovel. Gravel was sometimes hauled from the bed of streams 
and deposited in the low places. These roads of dirt were a great advance 
over the primitive trail in' dry weather but often became great stretches of 
mud at other times. The building of dirt roads was greatly facilitated by 
improved tools. A new scraper was invented that at the first glance was 
condemned by the gang, but after being put in operation called forth this 
remark from a member: “By thunder, that thing deceives its looks.” 

In 1850 the first plank road was built. The Center road was planked 
for some distance by a company but after these planks gave wav they were 
not replaced. In 1870 the Cleveland and Warrensville Plank Road Com¬ 
pany built five miles of plank road extending from the city limits of Cleve¬ 
land to a point three-quarters of a mile east of the Center. The road run¬ 
ning south from the Center, and that from Randall northwest to New¬ 
burgh was also planked. Now came the railroad, that wonderful trans¬ 
former of a continent, and with it the old song, with its refrain: “Bless 
me, it is pleasant, this riding on a rail.” The Cleveland and Mahoning 
and Atlantic and Great Western Railways were built through the south¬ 
western part of the township. These roads used the same roadbed but 
had tracks of different gauge. Randall Station came into being with the 
advent of railroads. How did it get its name? In this wise. In 1868 
a postoffice was established here and it was named after Alexander W. 
Randall, who was then postmaster general of the United States. Before 
the postoffice was established it was called “Plank Road Station.” Impor¬ 
tant and interesting landmarks of the earlv davs are the taverns In 1848 
George Lathrop put up a tavern called "the'Plank Road House. This 
became widely known and was patronized bv a multitude of local and dis¬ 
tant travelers. After him the landlord was Otis Farrer, and Charles Grass- 
meyer followed Farrer. Another called the Blue Tavern was opened at 
the Center by Charles Wickerson. At that time the Center included a 
Methodist Church, town hall, and eight or ten dwellings. Four years 
before the Plank Road House was built, Dwver Sherman built one. Fol¬ 
lowing him as landlords were Nickerson, Teed, Kingsbury, McKee and 
Birchard. In 1877 A. A. Gillette opened a fine country hotel one and a 
half miles west of the plank road. 

Since the jolly party at the house warming in the log cabin of Daniel 
Warr i en ’A lln ? e the town meetin g that was called to order and presided 
over by Daniel Warren, since the same gentleman entered upon his duties 
as justice of the peace, with an emphasis on the last word, many men have 
served the township and their names as public officers in “town meeting” 
government, represent many of the most prominent of the pioneer families 
ot Warrensville. Among those who have served as trustees in the first 
half century and more were James Prentiss, Peleg Brown, William 
Gabriel Culver, Daniel R. Smith, Robert Prentiss, Ralph Russell. 
Caleb Baldwin, Caleb L.tch, Asa Stiles, Caleb Alvord, Josiah Abbott 
David Benjamin Enoch Gleason, Solomon Buell, jedediah Hubbell, John 
Prenfiss Milo Gleason, Orrin J. Hubbell, Moses Warren, Daniel Warren, 

? n k 'w h S°°i* 5r atham , e .l Goods P eed . Andrew Wilson, Horace Hamilton 
John Woodruff Moses Warren, Jr., Samuel M. Prentiss, Bazaleel Thorp 
Solyman Hubbell Nathaniel Lyon, Frederick Sillsby, Amos Birchard’ 
Warren Thorp, Asa llpson, John J. Proper, Everett Holly, Erastus 
Smith, Oliver Ransom, Pliny S. Conkey, Linus Clark, Albert Kingsbury 
Otis Lyon, Russell Frizzell, Henry Wetherby, Thomas Cain, John Hewett’ 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


269 


James Clapp, William Bowler, John T. Radcliff, Asahel Lewis, William 
H. Cole, Gad E. Johnson, James K. Ouayle, H. N. Clark, B. F. Eddy, 
Otis Farrer, John Radcliff, Jr., Robert Drake, D. L. Wightman, J. P. 
Thorp, William H. Warren, L. B. Prentiss, John Caley, G. W. Harland, 
Elermie Earl, T. Nelson, A. S. Cannon, L. Leppert, Jr., R. Walkden, 

A. J. Conkey, John C. Teare, W. W. Smith, Sebastian Fieg and James 
Smith. Clerks, F. G. Williams, Ansel Young, Martin Clark, Almon Kings¬ 
bury, P. L. Brown, Orrin J. Hubbeli, Luther R. Prentiss, William H. Cole, 
Parker Boynton, Milo Gleason, William H. Warren, Linus Clark, W. S. 
Cannon, Solyman Hubbeli, E. Holley, William Taylor, J. M. Burke, Ham¬ 
mond Clapp, Edwin Taylor, W. W. Blair, W. W. Smith, and H. B. Ham¬ 
mond. Treasurer, Caleb Baldwin, Daniel R. Smith, Edmond Mallet, 
Charles Risley, Beckwith Cook, John Prentiss, Salmon Buel, Sylvester 
Carter, Enoch Gleason, Peleg Brown, Asa Stiles, Daniel Pillsbury, Moses 
Warren, Orrin J. Hubbeli, Asa Upson, William H. Cole, Elijah W. Bron¬ 
son, David Birchard, Amos Birchard, Truman Eggleston, William H. 
Warren, Oliver Ransom, Hart Taylor, Milo Gleason, J. T. Radcliff, John 
M. Burke, O. B. Judd, G. E. Johnson, D. P. Badger, D. Nowack, John 
Shirringer, and David Wade. In the ’80s William S. Corlett and William 

B. Sanders were serving as justices of the peace. The present officers of 
the township are Myron J. Penty, justice of the peace; trustees, Harry 
Deeks, James L. Doyle, D. H. Ton Benken; clerk, William Malchus; 
treasurer, William Shankland; assessor, O. M. Wetmore; constable, 
Guy O. Peck. 

In 1819 the total tax of Warrensville was $12.50 and out of this 80 
cents was not collected. In 1821, after Orange was organized, the tax 
was only $6.50. This was all collected and paid out as follows: Paid 
Aruna R. Baldwin, constable, 54 cents; Ansel Young, clerk, $1.18; Asa 
Stiles, trustee, $1.55; Ebenezer Russell, trustee, $1; Josiah Abbott, trustee, 
$1; George Cannon, collector, 60 cents, and Chester Risley, treasurer, 18 
cents. It may be assumed that the treasurer got what was left out of a 
distribution based upon relative services. In 1828 the vote for president in 
the township was, John Adams, thirty-two votes, and Andrew Jackson, 
fifteen. 

A village can pass ordinances that are laws of local application and 
particularly since the advent of automobiles many villages have come into 
being, usually formed by action of the county commissioners or by vote 
of the people in connection with action by the township trustees. Formed 
in whole or in part from the territory of Warrensville have been Idlewood 
Village, Shaker Heights Village, East View Village, since annexed to 
Shaker Heights, North Randall, Beachwood Village, and Cleveland 
Heights, now advanced to a city. East View was formed May 1, 1906. 
In 1920 the territory was made a township for judicial purposes, and at 
various times portions were annexed to the city of Cleveland and to the 
village of Shaker Heights, and in 1920 the entire remaining village was 
annexed to Shaker Heights. The officers of the village who last served, 
were: Mayor, E. J. Kehres; clerk, H. M. True; treasurer, C. R. Mack; 
council, Bruce Bessler, R. W. Kehres, J. Litnel, H. T. McMyler, J. T. 
Newton, and Bert Rhodehammel. Idlewood Village was formed by action 
of the county commissioners May 27, 1907. Two years later it was made 
a township and five years later a portion of the village was annexed to 
Cleveland Heights Village. The present officers are: Mayor, John J. How¬ 
ard; clerk, W. A. Horky; treasurer, John J. Bartenstein; council, Judson 
Sambrook, Martin Huge, Albert Crawford, Carl Papier, A. Geiger, and 
Tom Paulet. North Randall Village was formed May 2, 1908, bv action 
of the county commissioners. Here is located the racetrack that has been 


270 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


the scene of many historic races. It took its name from the name given 
to the postoffice as first established. The present officers are: Mayor, 
B. O. Shank; clerk, Myron J. Penty; treasurer, Ralph Lougee; marshal, 
J. E. Wise; council, F. J. Breekranz, Frank Caton, Win Kinnan, William 
S. Lougee, Harry Morgan, and Vin Stengel; board of education, H. J. 
Ellicott, George Nichols j and Arthur Thorp. 

Shaker Heights Village, which includes in its boundaries the lands once 
owned by the Community of North Union, is unique and beautiful. Its 
streets are winding roads, well paved, and its territory is dotted with homes 
of taste and variety, not in close proximity but scattered in places as were 
the log cabins of the settlers. Its school buildings reflect the substantial 
and characteristic taste of the inhabitants. The high school building at 
South Woodland and Woodbury roads located on twenty-five acres of 
ground, on which $200,000 has been expended in beautifying the grounds, 
has no equal in the county in size and locality of the school grounds. 
The land and building cost over $500,000. A junior high school building 
is in process of construction on the same grounds and will be opened in 
part this year. This new building includes everything known in the way 
of up-to-date school facilities. There are twenty-five teachers in the high 
school, a number doing special supervising work. The enrollment of pupils 
this year at the close of the spring term was 360. The graduating class 
numbered thirty-three, and the junior class numbers forty-four, indicating 
a growth in advanced pupils. As indicating the class of people sending 
pupils to the high school it is ascertained that over 90 per cent of the 
graduates from this school enter college. The principal is R. B. Patin. 
Shaker Heights Boulevard School at Southington and Drexmore roads 
employs ten teachers and has an enrollment of 310 pupils. The principal 
is Mrs. Mae McClaren. East View School at Lee and Kinsman roads 
has three teachers and has an enrollment of eighty pupils. The principal 
is Miss Isabelle Campbell. Sussex School at "Norwood and Sussex 
roads has five teachers and 105 pupils and the principal is Miss Isabelle 
Campbell, who is also in charge of East View. Malvern School at Mal¬ 
vern and Falmouth roads has six teachers and 120 pupils. The principal 
is Mrs. Violet Stone. Onaway Building at Woodbury and Onaway roads 
has a corps of fifteen teachers and an enrollment "of 325 pupils, and 
the principal is H. D. Snook. The school board of the village maintains 
twelve tennis courts, football and baseball grounds with other outdoor 
athletics. The football team of the high school played the past season 
with only one defeat to record and that to Cleveland Heights High School 
players. The school district is not co-extensive with the village, including 
a portion of other territory. The assessed value of the property in the 
district is $34,000,000, and the population about 4,000 souls. The village 
has no bonded indebtedness, improvements have been paid for entirely 
by assessment, and no part out of the general fund. The school district 
has a bonded indebtedness of about $1,500,000. The salary schedule ranks 
up with the best of the county schools and attracts teaching talent in keep¬ 
ing with the progressive spirit of the school system. The superintendent 
is Dr. C. B. Cornell; the business manager and clerk of the board is 

J. W. Mam, in active charge for the Board of Education, which consists 
of Starr Cadwallader, president, H. H. Hampton, vice president, Miriam 

K. Stage, Bessie C. Newton, and L. L. Parish. 

Just when the Shaker Community pulled up stakes and left the town¬ 
ship is not definitely recorded in the annals but their exodus was complete 
with one solitary exception, and that, as related to the writer, is in this wise. 
On leaving, the Community exhumed the dead and removed the bodies 
to another resting place where the living located. For some reason 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


271 


known only to the inner circle, one man had offended the authorities and 
was not permitted to be buried on Shaker soil, he had been ex-communi¬ 
cated or something. On one of the winding roads of the beautiful village 
his grave remains with its monument marking the spot, the sole reminder 
of the one time presence here of the pioneer, thrifty, peculiar colony of 
Shakers. Just what his offense was is not known, but by it he became in a 
sense historical and his grave, if not a shrine, is a historical landmark. 

The township of Shaker was formed in 1911 from a portion of Cleve¬ 
land Heights Village and with the ultimate object of forming a village, as 
stated in the petition to the county commissioners. An election was held 
in August of that year, the petition having been granted by Commissioners 
Eirick, Fisher, and Vail. At this election W. J. Van Aken, John L. Cannon, 
and O. P. Van Sweringen were elected trustees; C. A. Palmer, clerk; B. L. 
Jenks, treasurer; Ira C. Farley, justice of the peace; James Farley, con¬ 
stable; and B. O. Speith, assessor. The following board of education was 
elected: E. A. Petrequin, James H. Rogers, E. W .Davis, G. N. Wasser, 
and W. L. Evans. John L. Cannon was chosen president of the board of 
trustees. Soon proceedings for the forming of a village was under way, 
an election was held and no votes were cast against the proposition. The 
first officers of the village were: Mayor, Ford N. Clapp; clerk, Carl A. 
Palmer; council, John L. Cannon, T. S. Grasselli, James H. Rogers, 

Max J. Rudolph, William J. Van Aken, and- Rickey. The present 

officers are: Mayor, William J. Van Aken; clerk, Carl A. Palmer; treasurer, 
William J. Pinkett; assessor, W. C. Weiding; marshal, W. E. Arnold; 
justice of the peace, W. J. Zoul; council, John L. Cannon, Frank Alcott, 
William T. Cashman, John Hecker, C. B. Palmer, M. J. Rudolph. Shaker 
Heights Village maintains a paid fire department, the volunteer fire depart¬ 
ment, as conducted in so many villages not being possible here, where a 
collection of stores and shops in near proximity provide the personnel 
of the force. There are eight paid men, as follows: John K. Irwin, chief ; 
Henry S. Mackey and Merle Hand, lieutenants; George Frank, John 
Lumsden, Harry Annis, Otto Lehman, George Jumont, Harry Hrumadka, 
and Joseph Kirchner. There are eight other than the lieutenants. They 
have a chemical and a pump engine of the latest model and two thousand 
feet of hose and provide ample protection against the fire demon. 

The annexation to Shaker Heights Village of East View was con¬ 
summated in 1919. On August 8th of that year the council of East View 
passed an ordinance of annexation and on November 4th a vote was taken 
in each village. The vote in East View was ninety-four for, and fifty-four 
against, and in Shaker Heights, one hundred and fifty-five for, and sixty- 
seven against annexation. So the vote in each village carried and the 
annexation was consummated. 

One of the enterprises of the past few years that has been a great boon 
to the thriving village has been the construction of a rapid transit line 
from Cleveland. It operates two lines of cars, Shaker Heights direct, and 
Shaker Heights Boulevard cars, which bring rapid transit to the doors of 
a large population, and is particularly well equipped, for it has its private 
right-of-way the whole distance. A ride over its route on the fast moving 
cars makes the mud and stump era seem to be far in the mists of antiquity, 
and the wilderness that once was here, yes, but a century ago, we think of 
as a fabled vision, 

“But thou hast histories that stir the heart 
With deeper feeling; while I look on thee 

They rise before me. I behold the scene 
Hoary again with forests; I behold 


272 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


The Indian warrior, whom a hand unseen 

Has smitten with his death-wound in the woods, 

Creep slowly to thy well-known rivulet, 

And slake his death-thirst. Hark, that quick fierce cry 
That rends the utter silence! ’tis the whoop 
Of battle, and a throng of savage men 
With naked arms and faces stained like blood, 

Fill the green wilderness; the long bare arms 
Are heaved aloft, bows twang and arrows stream; 

Each makes a tree his shield, and every tree 
Sends forth its arrow. Fierce the fight and short, 

As is the whirlwind. Soon the conquerors 
And conquered vanish, and the dead remain 
Mangled by tomahawks. The mighty woods 
Are still again, the frightened bird comes back 
And plumes her wings. * * * 

So centuries passed by, and still the woods 

Blossomed in spring, and reddened when the year 
Grew chill, and glistened in the frozen rains 
Of winter, till the white man swung the axe 
Beside thee—signal of a mighty change.” 

Cleveland Heights, having at the last census a population of 15,025, 
is rapidly increasing its numbers and gaining in. wealth. Its tax dupli¬ 
cate has increased in eight years from $40,000,000 to $90,000,000. The 
high character of its schools has been a great factor in its development. 
The Board of Education consists of George A. Coulton, president; Mrs. 
Alice C. Tyler, vice president; Edward W. Keen, Alfred M. Corcoran, 
and Harrison B. McGraw. The clerk and treasurer is Wallace G. Nesbit. 

The Heights High School on Lee Road, principal, Carl D. Burtt; the 
Coventry School, with Miss Mary Jack as principal; the Fairfax School, 
Lee and Scarborough roads, with Miss Lillian Cleland as principal; the 
Lee School, on Lee Road, with Miss J. Belle McVeigh as principal; Noble 
School, near Noble Road, with Miss Gertrude McGuire as principal; 
Roxbury School, on Roxbury Road, with Miss Iscah Rhodes as principal ; 
Severance School, on Taylor Road, with Miss Anna Gage as principal, 
and Superior School, on Superior Road, with Miss Josephine Armstrong 
as principal, include the principal schools of the city. L. B. Brink and 
Albert B. Harvey are Junior High principals, and these named, with a 
superintendent of large and varied experience and a corps of splendid 
teachers, make up a school organization of unusual merit. There are 
enrolled in the High School 750 pupils, in the Junior High schools, 1,000, 
and in the grade schools 3,150, making a total enrollment of nearly 5,000 
pupils. There were 152 in the graduating class of this vear. James'W. 
McLane, the superintendent, who voluntarilv retires this year, has had a 
teaching experience of over forty years. He was at West High in Cleve¬ 
land for six years, at Central High for eight years, was principal of Lin¬ 
coln High for eight and a half years, and of the Normal School five and 
a half years, and completes a long service as superintendent of the 
schools of Cleveland Heights. We quote from his interesting report of 
this year a brief paragraph illustrative of the change that has come to us 
fFjee v 116 ^ ayS the log cabin > wben parental authority was supreme: 

We live in a time of the supremacy of the child in the home; and the 
deference shown to childish and youthful complaints, especially when 
accompanied by a summer-shower of tears, is amazing. No child or 
youth can ever be made ready for the inevitable conflict that life is, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


273 


unless he has been reproved, disappointed, opposed, defeated, and re¬ 
quired to subordinate some of his selfishness to larger things. We 
should always preserve youthful rights, but we must also emphasize 
youthful duties and responsibilities, if this republic of ours is not to prove 
itself a disastrous experiment in self-government.” 

Superintendent McLane has as a personal staff Miss Eda G. Wil¬ 
lard, assistant superintendent; Miss Marion G. Clark, supervisor of 
upper grades, and Miss Minnie Lee Davis, supervisor of primary grades. 
There is a board of medical inspection consisting of Dr. H. F. Staples 
and Dr. Ethel Harrington, and Mrs. Ada G. Willard and Miss Edna 

K. Ellis, school nurses. The school libraries are under the supervision 
of a library board, appointed by the Board of Education. It consists of 
an efficient body of prominent people, Charles Adams, president; Alfred 
Clum, secretary; Charles K. Arter, F. W. Ramsey, Mrs. Fred B. Becker, 
Mrs. T. E. Borton, and T. H. Hogsett. There are 15,500 volumes in 
the library, which is located in the Coventry School Building, with 
branches at Fairfax and other schools. The librarian is Miss Helen 
Keeler. We have given this brief outline of the educational activities of 
this city, but its police and fire departments, its activities in the way of 
public improvements are in keeping with all the rest. This being, like 
Shaker Heights, a residence town and in reality a residence section of 
Cleveland, but with its own government, we will speak of the churches 
in a review of the county at large. Cleveland Heights, formed out of 
East Cleveland and Warrensville townships, was established as a village 
May 10, 1905. Its rapid growth permitted its advance to a city, and it is 
now one of the three cities, outside of Cleveland, in the county. The 
three are Lakewood, East Cleveland, and Cleveland Heights. The 
present officers are: Mayor, F. C. Cain; clerk, H. H. Canfield; treas¬ 
urer, E. B. Merritt; council, Frank C. Cain, R. E. Denison, W. C. 
Dunlap, A. W. Ellenberger, W. G. Hildebrand, R. E. Purdy, and 
J. W. Smith. 

The Village of Beachwood, formed in part from Warrensville, was 
erected by virtue of a petition and a vote of the people in 1915. The first 
election was held June 15, 1915. The present officers are: Mayor, 

L. F. Lavin; clerk, Elmer J. Corlett; treasurer, W. W. Cowle; assessor, 
Charles Fehr; council, O. C. Sell, George McVeigh, George E. Walkden, 
John Bieger, Fred Neal, and B. W. Truscott. 

During the administration of Tom L. Johnson as mayor of the City 
of Cleveland, and Rev. Harris R. Cooley, director of public welfare, a 
large tract of land was purchased in Warrensville for a workhouse and 
city infirmary, and hospital. It is a tract of good soil, and offenders con¬ 
fined for misdemeanors are given the forced opportunity to earn their 
own living by working on the farm. It is a “back to the soil” movement 
and while the health of prisoners is much improved and conditions much 
better than under the old system of indoor shops for the employment of 
offenders, yet the opportunity to engage in the activities there are not 
eagerly sought out. It is a great reform, and perhaps no better place 
could have been selected than the section of Warrensville chosen for its 
location. In another chapter we will describe in detail the institution as 
a part of the criminal history of the City of Cleveland. An effort is on 
foot to annex to the City of Cleveland the Township of Warrensville as 
now existing, which if carried out will bring this farm into the city and 
complete the passing of the township. 



This millstone on the Public Square was one of a pair used in 
Newburgh in the first grist mill, and they were the first millstones 
turned on the Western Reserve. The mate is on Broadway, near 
the site of the old mill. 

This stone is the property of the Western Reserve Historical 
Society and was mounted in its present location by the city 
. Historic Old Stone Church in the background 













SWW'ti\ /\|\ • cq ■ / '*V a *iyY) 


CHAPTER XXII 


NEWBURGH 

Survey township number 7 of range 12 was one of the first to be 
settled in Northern Ohio. Just how the name was selected and just who 
was the first settler does not appear in the early annals. The original 
township “Old Newburgh” was bounded on the north by Cleveland and East 
Cleveland, on the south by Independence, on the east by Warrensville, 
and on the west by Brooklyn. The historic Cuyahoga River was on its 
western boundary, and we say “was” because the township as originally 
formed has passed with the years. Mill Creek flowed across its southern 
part, providing good water power. This was early utilized. At its falls 
in 1799 William T. Wheeler and Major Wyatt built the first gristmill on 
the Western Reserve. The Connecticut Land Company furnished the 
irons, and David Bryant and his son, Gilman Bryant, who had been 
quarrying grindstones at Vermillion River, came to Newburgh and made 
a pair of millstones. They were quarried about half a mile north of Mill 
Creek falls. In later years these stones were great objects of interest 
and today one is resting, as it has been for years, on the public square in 
Cleveland, and another on Broadway in the old Eighteenth Ward. To 
the pioneer the gristmill was a supreme blessing, and we today can hardly 
realize how important a function it filled in pioneer life. No wonder 
the older members of the community preserved these relics of bygone 
days from the Newburgh mill. To this mill came settlers from all the 
surrounding territory, and its history, beginning before the nineteenth 
century came in, is linked with much of early pioneer life. When this 
mill was completed and ready for grinding, invitations were sent out for 
a grand celebration. At that time there were ten families in Cleveland 
(none west of the river), and a few single men. Quite a number came 
from Euclid, for there was a settlement in that town. The celebration 
was a success, for they were celebrating the completion of the first grist¬ 
mill on the Western Reserve. Newburgh has this distinction, and that is 
a notable one in pioneer history. 

The first who came to the township found a fertile soil, and as clearing 
progressed, good pasturage. Being near Cleveland it was one of the first 
to take up gardening, and as the city grew the gardens were multiplied 
and dairies were also increased to meet the demand for milk. It was 
originally surveyed into 100 acre lots. We have mentioned Major Wyatt 
and William W. Wheeler. Among other settlers were Philip Brower, 
wife and seven children, who came in 1816 from New York State to 
Newburgh and located near the Independence line, where David L. 
Brower had bought 270 acres of land. Here David lived out his life, 
dying at the age of eighty-five. When David Brower came to Newburgh 
he became the neighbor of Darius Warner, who came from New York 
State in 1816 with his wife and five children. James Walker followed 
after with both pioneer and romantic intentions, for he married into the 
Warner family. The old Walker farm was carried on by a son, Spencer, 
after the father’s death. In the spring of 1820 Nehemiah Marks, Wilson 
Bennett, Richard Treat, and a Mr. Clark, young men of Milford, Con- 

275 




276 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


necticut, set out with a one-horse wagon for Ohio, and after a journey of 
thirty-three days came to Newburgh. Treat and Clark took a look and 
then continued westward, but Marks and Bennett stayed in Newburgh 
and bought farms of Barr and Beardsley, the Connecticut proprietors. 
They bought adjoining farms on the Bedford road. Soon after, Thomas 
Ross, who had come to Summit County from New York State, settled 
near them on the farm later owned by Asa Dunham. While clearing their 
farms Marks, Bennett and Ross kept Bachelors’ Hall in Ross’ log house, 
but, late one fall, Ross’ family came, and then Marks and Bennett were 
boarders. But in the meantime Marks had built himself a log house, and 
after the summer’s work was over he walked back to Connecticut and 
brought his sister on to Newburgh for a housekeeper. Not satisfied with 
just a housekeeper, he “up and got married.” The sister followed suit 
and married Cyrus Parmenter, a young man who had assisted Marks in 
clearing his farm. The Parmenters moved to Strongsville. It used to be 
a saying that walking was better than riding, and when Marks walked 
back to Connecticut to bring his sister it took him thirteen days, but on 
the return trip with a team the journey occupied nearly a month. He had 
to cut a road to and through his farm to the log house. The next year, 
however, a road was opened from Cleveland to Hudson. The Bedford 
road was opened later. Of this little settlement of early pioneers in New¬ 
burgh, Marks alone contributed to the peopling of the township. Ross 
and Bennett had no children, or at least none who remained in the town¬ 
ship. Ross died of cholera in 1832, and Bennett drank to excess and died 
a wreck in 1836. Marks married a Parmenter, a sister of the man who 
married the sister that he brought from Connecticut. Mrs. Marks was 
a real pioneer woman. She came to Newburgh in 1821 in the company 
of a family of Western pioneers, and worked her passage. In other 
words, she drove the team all the way from Connecticut and thus earned 
her transportation. When she came to Newburgh she began teaching 
school in a log dwelling, a subscription school, as it was called, the public 
school not then having been established. This school continued for some 
time, but Marks broke it up by marrying the teacher. One by one families 
came. This seems to have been quite the rule over the Reserve. As a fact 
there were no large companies coming with banners to possess the land, but 
a home here and a home there was established, and the growth was regular 
and constant. In Newburgh, or rather in number 7, range 12, the Jewetts 
came, John and Samuel Brooks, Nehemiah Wallace, with a wife and three 
sons, Ira, Chester, and Jefferson, Ira and Chester being married, and added 
to the little colony. In the winter of 1817 Edmund Rathbun came from 
New York State in a sleigh with Isaac Clark and family. Young Rath- 
bun bought forty-four acres near the five mile lock, as afterwards des¬ 
ignated. Soon he bought more land and increased his farm to 125 acres 
George Rathbun came the next year. He was a brother, and bought a 
farm next to Edmund’s. As following the fortunes of these early comers, 
Edmund Rathbun sold his Newburgh property in 1854 and moved to 
io^ n ’ a , nd fr 1 om 1 ther ? t0 Cleveland. George Rathbun moved to Euclid in 
844, where he died in 1877 at the age of eighty-one. His wife was the 
daughter of Samuel Hamilton, who settled in Newburgh in 1801 Samuel 
Hamilton was the grandfather of Edwin T. Hamilton, who was for 
many years the dean of the Common Pleas bench of Cuyahoga County. 
Of him we will speak later. Mr. Rathbun’s neighbors, besides his brother 
George, were Milton, Joseph and Erastus Rathbun; a Mr. Burgess, who 
was killed by a falling tree; Jonathan Pearse, who came in 1818; John 
Gould and his son Mynck; Benjamin Parsons, Wildman White, Samuel 
Andrus, and George Beakle. Jedediah Hubbell settled in the northeast 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


277 


part of the township. It is related of him that on a Sunday in 1822, 
while he was at church, his house burned down. But this was in “the 
good old days.” The next day the townspeople all gathered and built a 
new house and moved the family in before nightfall. The next settler 
to be noted was Solomon White. He located in the north part of the 
township, near the Cleveland line. On the old state road, afterwards 
called the Fisher road, there were early settlements, Parker, Shattuck, 
Amos Brainard, Silas Owen, Lewis Peet, and Isaac Clark, he who came 
with Edmund Rathbun in 1817. A. M. Remington, Lyman Hammond, 
and John Righter, who came as early as 1814. Mr. Righter moved to 
Brecksville soon after. He had been a soldier in the War of 1812. His 
descendants are scattered over the Western Reserve. Two daughters, 
Alice and Libby (Elizabeth) became locally famous as singers, Alice as 
a contralto, and Libby as a soprano. He had ten children. Only one is 
now living, Mary Righter Fessenden. Her home is in Twinsburg, Sum¬ 
mit County. She will be ninety in November. She, like others of the 
large family, had marked musical talent, and a little printed collection of 
her poems indicate that she was gifted in other lines. She said to the 
writer that her father, John Righter, was born in 1790 at Easton, Penn¬ 
sylvania, and at twenty-two enlisted in the War of 1812, that in 1824 he 
came to Cleveland with his family and others. The party consisted of 
her father and mother and three children, and her grandfather and grand¬ 
mother with two children. On that year Lake Erie was frozen over and 
there was much travel over it. The party crossed the lake to Cleveland 
with horses and sleighs. They stayed for a time in Cleveland, when Mr. 
Righter bought a farm in Newburgh. She mentioned the Stairs, Ken¬ 
dalls, Crittendens, and Rev. Mr. Ashwell, as close friends and neighbors 
in Newburgh. She said the party were much disappointed in Cleveland. 
They found it consisted of scrub oak bushes, sand, and a few scattered 
buildings. Mrs. Fessenden said her mother’s ancestors kept slaves in 
New England. “In after years our grandmother would tell us children 
about her childhood and about her old black mammy, and how she loved 
her. Father and mother often discussed the subject. Mother claimed 
that the slave was better off with a master than to be a master of himself. 
Father claimed that slavery was cruel, unjust and wicked, that every 
human being should be free. * * * After the slaves were set free 
in Connecticut, the conditions were about the same as they were in the 
South after the Civil war. It took some time for the state to right itself. 
Many left for other states. My mother’s father’s family came to Geneseo, 
New York. After the Civil war my mother was decidedly changed. She 
was a strong abolitionist the rest of her life.” Mrs. F. said when 
her father settled in Newburgh he had considerable means with which 
to commence life in a new country, that they attended church in Cleve¬ 
land until the Miles Park Church was formed. It was organized with 
twelve members, and her father and mother, John and Amy Righter, 
were two of the twelve. She said that she and five of her brothers and 
sisters, all born in Newburgh, were baptized in that church. 

This incident of pioneer days we give in her own words: “I have a 
vivid recollection of a little incident that occurred in our home when I 
was between two and three years old. We lived in a log house, comfort¬ 
able and roomy. A large old-fashioned fireplace with a crane swung 
across hung with different hooks of different lengths, for cooking pur¬ 
poses, and with a large hearth stone in front, occupied one side of the 
room. Our grandmother was a fleshy woman, and in stepping on the 
stone it went down with her. She caught with her arms and shoulders. 
She was so heavy she could not be gotten out from above, so father built 


278 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


a staging of barrels and boards under her feet. She was finally rescued, 
but with a dislocated shoulder. The excitement so impressed and scared 
me that the scene is just as plain to me today as it was then, over eighty 
years ago.” Another incident that happened in Newburgh, of the serio¬ 
comic character, Mrs. Fessenden relates in this wise: “A man by the 
name of Peck, who was sort of an exhorter or preacher, was so impressed 
with the idea that he would die upon a certain day that he sent for his 
friends to be with him in his last hours and hear his dying words. They 
all came. He went to his room and laid himself down upon his bed. His 
friends gathered solemnly around him and waited. He tried and tried to 
die but could not. Finally he told them he could not die with so many 
standing around him and sent them all away, but they insisted that they 
did not want to desert a brother in a dying hour. He tried a while longer 
and gave up the job. He lived many years after that, and ever afterward 
went by the sobriquet of ‘Old Dying Peck.’ ” 

Mrs. Fessenden’s husband was a soldier in the Civil war. He died 
some years ago, leaving her the only original Civil war widow in Twins- 
burg, where she resides. 

The Township of Newburgh was organized October 15, 1814, and the 
first trustees were Giles Barnes, Charles Miles, and Daniel Marvin, and 
the first clerk, Erastus Miles. Among those who have served as trustees 
since have been James Kingsbury, Y. L. Morgan, J. A. Smith, Ephraim 
Hubbell, S. S. Baldwin, John Wightman, Jehial Saxton, Aaron Hubbard, 
Peter Robison, John Brooks, Theodore Miles, Philemon Baldwin, Cyrenus 
Ruggles, Lewis Peet, Jesse Harris, Jonathan Pearse, Moses Jewett, 
Spencer Warner, Noble Bates, Stephen Titus, A. S. Chapman, Chester 
Hamilton, Gaius Burke, Samuel Brooks, A. H. Brainard, Aaron Shepard, 
Asahel Palmiter, A. B. Haight, Jabez Gallup, Stephen Titus, Wileman 
White, Y. L. Morgan, Jr., G. Bradford, George Rathbone, John Hopkin- 
son, Nehemiah Marks, B. L. Wiggins, Eben Miles, F. A. Andrews, 
Thomas Garfield, Alonzo Carter, Elias Shepard, I. W. Kingsbury, E. G. 
Simmons, William Kelly, John T. Worley, N. T. Meech, J. N. Canned, 
Samuel Stewart, Henry Marble, I. Brayton, Alexander Topping, Joseph 
Turney, A. A. Jewett, Richard Rodway, Clark Caley, A. W. Morgan, 
Jabez Lovett, Moses Fish, P. Potts, G. R. Bowman, Thomas Caine, 
John Hopkinson, J. D. Runnels, William Jorns, C. P. Jewett, Jewett H. 
Carter, Henry Carter, James Walker, Edmund James, William E. Ed¬ 
wards, Cornelius Boyle, A. L. Rodway, Jacob Flick, Eli W. Canned, and 
Richard Woodly. Among those who have served the township as clerks 
have been Erastus Miles, J. H. Shepard, J. G. Ruggles, Thomas Miles, 
Justus Remington, R. M. Choate, Daniel Miles, M. R. Hughes, Lewis 
Peet, William H. Caine, Justus Hamilton, J. Crays, Jason Hubbell, T. T. 
Clark, Philemon Baldwin, Anson A. Miles, Thomas A. Bayard, John 
Keys, Harvey Burke, E. G. Simmons, H. S. Pratt, Alexander Topping, 
A. B. Ruggles, E. W. Greenwood, A. J. Hamilton, Charles O. Evarts, 
and James Walker. The treasurers have been Theodore Miles, Jedediah 
Hubbell, Thompson Miles, Erastus Miles, Peter Robison, Gaius Burke, 
Justus Hamilton, Gideon Tupper, A. C. Chapman, Philo S. Ruggles, Spen¬ 
cer Warner, Henry Marble, A. W. Gaylord, C. P. Jewett, Elias Shepard, 
William Bergen, H. Burkhardt, Moses Fish, E. T. Hamilton, D. J. 
Wilder, N. B. Wiggins, H. C. Ruggles, M. M. Jones, A. J. Hamilton, 
Henry Shanks, and James Walker. 

The county commissioners’ records are full of orders in regard to 
the territory of this township. From the first, closely allied with Cleve¬ 
land, it was the first to begin the process of making way for Greater 
Cleveland. The territory annexed to Cleveland and forming the old 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


279 


eighteenth ward was long designated as Newburgh and even to the pres¬ 
ent is sometimes so called. The first break in the township lines which 
has continued until the township is no more was made March 23, 1823, 
when by an order of the county commissioners the township lines were 
so adjusted as to exclude a tract of 275 acres, which was annexed to Inde¬ 
pendence. In June, 1847, certain territory was annexed to East Cleve¬ 
land township, and in August, 1866, a tract was annexed to East Cleve¬ 
land Village. June 5th certain territory was annexed to Cleveland. This 
was in 1867. On May 9, 1870, territory was annexed to Cleveland. 
December 2, 1877, certain territory was annexed to Cleveland. Previous 
to this, however, the entire remaining portion of the township was incor¬ 
porated as a village or hamlet, retaining its township organization as well. 
This was in 1874. March 9, 1878, a portion of the township and hamlet 
was annexed to Cleveland. September 9, 1893, some of its territory was 
annexed to Cleveland, and on February another slice was also added to 
Cleveland. August 7, 1874, the Village of Newburgh was established, and 
June 30, 1904, territory of the township was annexed to Bedford. Novem¬ 
ber 10, 1906, certain territory of the township was detached to form the 
Township of Corlett. February 25, 1904, the Village of Newburgh 
Heights was established out of territory detached from Bedford, and in 
March of that year the township of Newburgh Heights was established 
out of the village territory for judicial purposes. October, 1904, the 
Township of South Newburgh was established, and in December of that 
year the village. In 1919 the name of South Newburgh was changed to 
Garfield Heights, and South View Township established. December 21, 
1912, Newburgh Village having advanced to the grade of a city, commis¬ 
sioners were appointed to arrange terms of annexation to Cleveland, and 
in 1913 the commissioners’ report was approved and accepted. 

Newburgh had some stone quarries in operation in the early days, but 
only sufficient stone was quarried for local use and very little was shipped. 
In the annals of the town written in 1879, after the formation of the old 
eighteenth (the iron ward) of Cleveland by annexation, its territory taken 
from the township, it is asserted that Newburgh has within its limits 
neither villages nor churches, but citizens pride themselves on the fact that 
nowhere in the township is liquor sold. The statement also is made that 
the only public buildings were the town hall and the schoolhouses. It is 
asserted also that five schoolhouses existed at that time, that the value of 
school property was $10,000, that the wages paid to teachers in that year 
was $735, and that the enrollment of pupils was 110. In explanation of 
the small enrollment it is stated that many children attended the parochial 
schools in the eighteenth ward of Cleveland. The Board of Education at 
that time consisted of Boardman Pierce, O. W. Quiggin, John R. Ed¬ 
wards, John B. Corlett, and Jacob Cramer. Mention is made of manu¬ 
facturing within its limits, and among them the Austin Powder Company, 
founded in 1833, near the five mile lock of the canal, that the company 
owned 400 acres of land. The production at that time was 400 kegs of 
powder daily. The California Powder Company, established as a branch 
of the Austin Powder Company in 1877 for the manufacture of dyna¬ 
mite, was then housed in several buildings in a deep ravine near the canal. 
The Newburgh Fertilizer Company, established in 1876 by Davidson and 
Palmer, was then in operation with J. B. Peck, J. H. Breck, and E. S. 
Peck as proprietors, manufacturing bone dust and superphosphates. Of 
these three only E. S. Peck is now living. He was for some time mayor 
of Newburgh Village. 

There are three villages now in existence which were formed from 
number 7, range 12. Cuvahoga Heights has been but recently organized. 


280 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Its present officers are: Mayor, Joseph P. Schmidt; clerk, Samuel E. 
Clapp; treasurer, Robert B. Kerr; marshal, D. L. Davis; street commis¬ 
sioner, John H. Conners; council, Charles F. Conners, Clint N. Gerden, 
Isaac G. Kennedy, Elijah Rickard, A1 Smith, and Albert Shatto. Gar¬ 
field Heights, with a population at the last census of 2,550, has as its 
present officers: Mayor, Oliver D. Jackson; clerk, Herman Bohning; 
treasurer, Fred C. Weber; assessor, William Kramer; council, George R. 
Green, Claude A. Meyers, Andrew Basel, Rudolph C. Nielson, James 
Ryback, and H. L. Menke. The justices of the peace are Max Berend 
and Joseph A. Schmidt. It has four school buildings, employs twenty- 
seven teachers and has an enrollment of 774 pupils. The superintendent 
is Glen D. King. Newburgh Heights Village had a population at the last 
census of nearly 3,000. The present officers are: Mayor, Charles E. 
Zimmerman; clerk, John A. Fitzgerald; treasurer, John C. McDowell; 
assessor, A. Uinek; council, Harold L. Brotherton, John Dlouhy, L. 
Friess, J. J. Krall, Henry Lissy, and Howard E. Wilson. 

Doctor Ruggles was a practicing physician in Newburgh and Cleve¬ 
land in the early days. There was an A. B. Ruggles, who served as 
township clerk, and Philo S. Ruggles and H. C. Ruggles, who served as 
township treasurers. We have not access to the genealogy of the Ruggles 
family and do not know the relationship, if any, of these early officers to 
the doctor, but Mrs. Fessenden tells a story of him worth preserving. He 
was the family physician of the Righter family, and made his visits on 
horseback astride of the saddlebags. His horse had a trick, not uncom¬ 
mon, of pulling at the halter and breaking away, when hitched. He then 
would canter home, leaving the doctor to get home as best he could. As 
Mrs. Fessenden puts it, forbearance ceased to be a virtue with the doctor. 
He said he would either kill or cure that horse, and he did not care much 
which. He put a stout hitching strap on and tied the horse to a tree on 
the bank of the Cuyahoga River near deep water and then hid behind a 
tree to watch results. The horse pulled quite softly at first and then a 
little harder, and then he put his whole weight on the strap. Snap it went 
and over and over, heels over head, went the horse into the river. He 
floundered about for a while and finally got out, shook himself and 
‘sneaked” for home. He hugged the hitching post after that and never 
attempted to break loose again. 

We have mentioned Samuel Hamilton as one of the earliest settlers of 
Newburgh, coming to the township in 1801. His son Jestus Hamilton 
is included in the list and was one of the earliest trustees of the township. 
A?am, a son of Justus, E. T. Hamilton, was treasurer of the township 
H!S full name was Edwin Timothy Hamilton. His record as citizen and 
public official is without a flaw. He rose by successive steps to be judge 
of the Common Pleas Court and looked up to as the dean of that court. 
He was educated in the public schools of Newburgh, afterwards study¬ 
ing at Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania. In 1851 he studied 
Hw in the office of Kelly, Bolton, and Griswold. Was a soldier in the 
Uvil war. When by the annexation of certain territorv from Newburgh 
which contained the Hamilton farm, the old eighteenth ward was* formed 
in Cleveland, he was one of the two councilmen to first represent that 
ward in the city council. Two years later he was elected to the Common 
Pleas bench to begin a long service there. Few judges have left so 
marked a record and so deep an impression on the memory of a generation. 

The judge was a great lover of a quiet game of euchre as a relaxation 
from his strenuous duties on the bench. He never played for any con¬ 
sideration except the joy of winning. He was regular 'in his habits and 
usually retired at an early hour. One evening he called at one of the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


281 


neighbors and when 9 o’clock arrived and he did not return, Mrs. 
Hamilton became anxious. Eleven o’clock came and no judge appeared. 
She roused the son, Walter, from his bed, something must have happened 
to the judge. Walter consoled her as best he could, but she spent an 
anxious sleepless night. About daylight the judge appeared upon his 
porch with his thumbs in his vest and with a jaunty air. “Oh, Judge, 
what happened to you, where have you been, I have been almost frightened 
to death.” “He thought he could beat me,” said the judge, as he stalked 
in high feather into the house. 

Joseph H. Breck was an early settler of Newburgh, a grand nephew of 
the Brecks, after whom Brecksville was named. He was a fine farmer and 
stock raiser. He served in the Legisuature for several terms. He was 
born in Brecksville in 1831 and in 1833 came with his father to New¬ 
burgh. His family consisted of four children: George D., Dr. L. B., 
William M. and Mary L. The wife was Miss Hattie Brooks of Lorain 
County. 

Charles O. Evarts, who was one of the clerks of Newburgh Township, 
became prominent in the affairs of Cleveland. He was city sealer and 
later city clerk for a number of years. 

Joseph Turney, who was one of the early officers of the township, 
became county treasurer, and then state treasurer, and his name was long 
known in connection with the administration of public affairs. 

Others we might mention, but the annals of the City of Cleveland 
will include many who began their career in Old Newburgh and gravitated 
into the industrial life of Greater Cleveland. 

When Cleveland was a little settlement, six miles from Newburgh, 
two holsteries were in existence in the latter place. The Eagle House, 
built in the ’40s, was of brick and one of the finest buildings in the 
county, if not on the Reserve. This became later the residence of 
Joseph Turney. It had a ballroom occupying the entire second floor, 
and by some method was provided with a spring floor, so that the old time 
dances could be brought out with greater effect. A Mr. Striker, John 
Baikel and Anson Gailord were the champions in “cutting the pigeon’s 
wing” and their performances were a part of most dances. Some time 
later the Cataract House on the opposite side of the present Broadway 
was built and operated by Mr. Edson. He sold to A. J. Spencer and 
then it became the Spencer House. The Eagle House was built by 
Daniel Miles, who gave Miles Park to the city and after whom Miles 
Avenue is named. His nephew, William Miles, is now a boarder in 
the same building, which is operated as a boarding house, the famous 
ballroom having been partitioned off into smaller rooms. William Miles 
is now eighty-five, but is a most courteous old gentleman with faculties 
well preserved. Another old citizen of Newburgh is Ashley Ames, w T ho 
is now nearly eighty-eight years of age and like Mr. Miles is well 
preserved. Through him and Mr. Miles the writer gathered a number of 
incidents in connection with the early history of Newburgh. The dances 
at these early taverns were attended by young people from the surround¬ 
ing country and they lasted all night. The orchestra usually consisted 
of two violins and a bass viol with Jack Leland as leader and it was 
considered a grand orchestra. Ned Kendall occasionally played for the 
dances out there. He had a reputation, having played before the king 
and queen of England, and his presence was an event. Jack Leland 
became a famous band leader of Cleveland and Iceland’s band was known 
far and wide. It was the custom of the manager of these parties to send 
out invitations to the desirable and attractive girls in the surrounding 
country and bring them to the dance in a sleigh or in the event of lack 


282 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


of sleighing, in a wagon. Then, of course, they were free to accept any 
invitation from the swains to “see them home” individually. Ashley 
Ames relates that at one of these dances, when the time for going home 
arrived, it was storming furiously, so they all stayed to breakfast. Then 
Jack Leland went up into the ballroom and began playing and they all 
began dancing again and danced until 9 o’clock. These were jolly 
times and recreations that lessened the hard burden of pioneer life. A. J. 
Spencer was a school teacher in Newburgh for many years and in the 
days when going to Cleveland was an all-day trip. At one time he ran 
a bus from Newburgh to Cleveland in day trips. If persons wished to 
go to Cleveland to the theater or any evening performance, it was neces¬ 
sary to make up a party sufficient to make the trip pay. After he had 
managed the Spencer House for some years, and he was a very popular 
landlord, he became the secretary to the chief of the fire department of 
Cleveland and remained through many successive administrations. Alva 
Brainard of Newburgh was sheriff of the county and his chief deputy, 
Benjamin Wiggin, also of Newburgh, lived in the jail, which was then 
on the southwest corner of the public square at Cleveland. Ashley Ames 
kept a livery stable in Newburgh, in the section which was later the 
eighteenth ward of the city, for nearly fifty years. He had nine brothers 
and two sisters and only he and one brother are living. We have referred 
to the first gristmill on Mill Creek. After that had been in operation for 
some time, Noble Bates, who acted as miller for the proprietors of the 
gristmill, put up a carding machine, and then a sawmill on the same 
stream. Then he undertook to start the silk industry. Mulberry trees 
were planted and silk worms procured, but the climate was not adapted 
to the industry and the enterprise failed. 

Abram Garfield, the father of President Garfield, came to Newburgh 
in 1820. He was married in Zanesville to Eliza Ballou, and the newly 
wedded pair settled in a log house on a new farm of eighty acres in that 
part of Newburgh that was first annexed to Cleveland. Thomas Garfield, 
a son, was born in October, 1822. The father remained here for six 
years and until the birth of three children. The family moved away, 
but Thomas returned to the place of his birth. Just what year he came 
we do not know, but he. was one of the early trustees of the township. 
We find him in Orange assisting the widowed mother after the death of 
his father, and helping to get together the money to send James to the 
Chester school. Again we find him trying to raise the money to send him 
to college, but as we have related, the money was finally advanced by 
Doctor Robinson. Thomas must have prospered to some extent, for the 
Cleveland State Hospital owes its origin to a gift of a tract of land of 
100 acres, now within the limits of the City of Cleveland, given by 
Thomas Garfield and wife for the purpose of "establishing a hospital for 
the insane. In 1852 the Legislature authorized the erection of an asylum 
and the building was completed in 1855. In 1872 it was partially 
destroyed by fire and at once rebuilt in a more substantial manner. It 
has been from time to time enlarged. Its site has for many years been 
absorbed by the municipal area of Cleveland. In 1896 a portion of land 
belonging to the asylum was traded for an equal amount of land near the 
buildings and the relinquished land attached to Garfield Park. This 
institution now has 1,300 acres of land, 100 with the present buildings in 
Cleveland and the rest in Lorain County. There are at present f,870 
patients in the hospital and it began receiving patients in 1855. The 
superintendent is Dr. Guy H. Williams. It is located on a high spot of 
ground and surrounding the buildings on all sides are attractive grounds 
with the noble ornament of trees and flowers. 


CHAPTER XXIII 


EAST CLEVELAND 

This township, which is classed with the early Survey townships 
of the Reserve, does not appear on the early maps of Cuyahoga County 
and does not appear on the present maps. It has been said of it that 
it has had more varied municipal relations and more irregular boun¬ 
daries than any other township in the county. Today it has no existence 
as a political entity. Its territory was first taken from Cleveland 
Township, Euclid Township, Newburgh Township, and Warrensville 
Township. Cleveland and Euclid furnishing the larger portion, and 
Newburgh and Warrensville contributing fragments. It was so formed 
in 1846 and its western boundary was the present East Fifty-fifth Street 
of Cleveland, and its southern boundary Newburgh. As this township, 
newer than the rest, but still a pioneer township, continued, a flourishing 
settlement grew up within its boundaries, but it was undisturbed in its 
political relations until certain territory was added from the Township 
of Euclid, as shown by the record of the county commissioners. In 
August, 1866, East Cleveland Village was established. It may be stated 
in passing that the organization of the township has usually been given 
as in the year of 1845, but the final order establishing the township was 
made in June, 1846. In 1867 the Village of East Cleveland was 
annexed to Cleveland. This left a territory nearly six miles long and 
five miles in its greatest width but so irregular that it had an area of 
only fifteen square miles. In giving its early history as to annals and 
officers we may overlap some of the townships already recorded in 
our history. The first white resident was Timothy Doan, a Connecticut 
sea captain, who was forty-three years old when he brought his family 
to Cleveland in 1801. He left them there while he built a log cabin 
and made a small clearing on his farm on the west line of Old Euclid. 
In the fall he moved his family into the new house. His youngest son, 
John Doan, was living on the old farm in the ’80s. For several years 
Timothy bent to the task of reclaiming the forest while yet his nearest 
neighbor was his brother Nathaniel at Doan’s Corners, now the City 
of Cleveland. Timothy was a man of high character and good ability, 
strong mentally and physically. He believed in the old adage that he 
who makes two blades of grass grow where one grew before is entitled 
to the gratitude of mankind. He was justice of the peace in the terri¬ 
tory that was later the Township of East Cleveland, and then served 
as judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Cuyahoga County. He 
died at the age of seventy on the old farm, where he built his log cabin 
in 1801. It may be interesting to note that Mr. Doan was elected by 
the Legislature of Ohio to the position of common pleas judge and at 
the first legislative session after the County of Cuyahoga was formed. 
It was the Eighth Legislative Session of Ohio. The capital of Ohio was 
Zanesville and the judges elected for Cuyahoga County were Augustus 
Gilbert, Nathan Perry, and Timothy Doan. This was the second session 
of this Legislature and Cuyahoga County was not represented until 

283 


284 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Edward Tiffin resigned as. senator and Stanley Griswold was appointed 
by Governor Huntington in his place. 

In August, 1803, John Shaw, John Ruple, Thomas Mcllrath, Garret 
Thorp, and William Coleman, all from Washington County, Pennsyl¬ 
vania, visited this section. Two of the party selected land in East Cleve¬ 
land. Shaw chose the lot where Shaw Academy was built and where 
Shaw High School now stands. Mcllrath settled at what was later 
Collinwood. Ruple located in the northeast part of Euclid, all on the 
main road from Cleveland to Pennsylvania. This was called a road, but 
it was hardly passable with ox teams. All who traveled in that way 
carried an axe to clear away the road from fallen timbers. These men 
went back to Pennsylvania and did not begin work on their forest farms 
until the next season. The second actual settler, after Timothy Doan, 
was Asa Dille, a brother of David Dille of Euclid. He came in March 

of 1804, put up his log cabin near the southwest corner of Old Euclid, 

cleared and planted, raised a large family, and there lived out his life. 
Soon after in the same year Shaw and Mcllrath began work on their 
property and Benjamin Jones, a relative of Mcllrath, settled southeast 
from them near what was afterwards the Asa Dille farm. Shaw brought 
his family that spring and is recorded as the third actual settler in the 
township. Shaw was a native of England, brought up in a woolen factory 
and entirely unfamiliar with the pioneer’s most effective instrument, the 
axe, but he mastered the situation, cleared his farm and brought it into 

excellent productiveness. He was a man of good natural gifts, had a 

fair education, and is reputed to have taught the first school in Cuya¬ 
hoga County. He held various civil offices in the township and was 
the founder of Shaw Academy. Mcllrath and Jones brought their 
families in the fall of 1804. Then there were five families in the terri¬ 
tory that later became East Cleveland. Only one family, that of Timothy 
Doan, had breadstuffs sufficient to last through the winter. The others 
depended principally on hunting, both to obtain meat for the family 
rations and skins and furs to barter in the rude markets of Newburgh 
and Cleveland, for articles of household and farm necessities. Coon 
skins were legal tender and hundreds were harvested. Mr. Mcllraith 
was especially noted as a hunter and he had several sons grown nearly 
to man’s estate, so that they formed a strong hunting battalion. The 
next year John Ruple settled on the line between East Cleveland and 
Euclid as these townships were afterwards related. He, too, was a 
noted hunter and was credited by William Coleman with killing the 
first panther slain in the old township of Euclid by a white man. He 
raised a large family and lived out his life, a long one, on the old farm 
The next year Samuel Ruple settled at Nine Mile Creek in the eastern 
part of the territory afterward called Collinwood. Later in that year 
Caleb Eddy located in the southern part of the township on a stream 
which they named Dugway Brook. The same year Abraham Norris 
came and began work on his farm on the ridge back of Collamer. 
Mrs. Myndert Wemple, a daughter of Norris, some years ago related 
many interesting incidents of the pioneer experience of the familv, some 
of which are preserved. The family were two miles from their nearest 
neighbor, David Hendershot. Thev had a puncheon floor and in summer 
a coverlid answered for a door. Mr. Norris worked hard from daylight 
to dark and soon had a good sized clearing, that is, he had felled the trees 
and trimmed the brush. Then, according to pioneer custom, he invited 
his neighbors from five or six miles around to a logging bee. Soon the 
company had several piles ready for burning and Mrs. Norris, who was 
watching the logging, ran into the house to get a shovel full of coals to 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


285 


fire the first log heap. The fire was burning low in the fireplace and on 
the warm hearth lay a griddle, which had been used for baking pancakes. 
The first thing Mrs. Norris saw as she entered the cabin was an enormous 
yellow rattlesnake curled up on the griddle. She screamed and fainted. 
Her husband ran in, but had no weapon. He called for his father-in-law, 
Mr. Mcllrath, who was driving the oxen among the logs, and he despatched 
the intruder with his ox goad. The snake proved to be a very large one 
with twenty-four rattles. 

It was the rule that men, who traveled through the woods, invariably 
carried a handy weapon, either a gun or a stick for snakes. Several 
wholesale killings were related in former chapters, where the air became 
impregnated with the poison and caused sickness. Mrs. Norris, who 



Doan's Corners Congregational Church 


fainted at sight of the big rattler in the frying pan on the hearth, was 
braver in the presence of bears and wolves. When she heard the pigs 
squealing one night, when her husband was away, she ventured forth 
and as a bear was carrying away a pig in its arms like a crying baby, she 
carried a shovel of coals and threw them on a pile of dry bark and the 
quick bright blaze frightened the bear and it dropped the pig and loped 
into the woods. The pig was not seriously hurt. 

Mrs. Wemple said that at this period of settlement there was no 
church in the neighborhood and people went to Doan’s Corners on 
Sundays, where Squire Nathaniel Doan would read a sermon. The 
family would make the trip to meeting with oxen, not with horse and 
buggy, for they had no buggy and the roads would not warrant that sort 
of a conveyance if they had had one. Mr. Norris would walk beside his 
horse on which his wife was riding with one child riding in front and 
another behind her. Luxuries came slowly to the early settlers. Mrs. 
Norris once sent to Pennsylvania by a couple of young men, who were 
making the trip, for a pound of tea and two yards of calico, the latter to 
make the baby a dress, and the former for special occasions. We are 
writing of a period about five years before Cuyahoga County was 
organized. There were at this time only two or three gristmills within 
ten miles of the Norris home and except the Newburgh mill they were 



286 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


very inferior flouring establishments, often out of repair. In dry times 
the water would run low and these mills could do very little grinding. 
John Shaw at one time took his oxen and cart and loaded up with a 
grist for every family in the township, driving eighty miles to Erie to 
get grinding done. He was scheduled to be back in two weeks and on 
the day fixed for his arrival home Mrs. Shaw invited all the people in 
the town to cook and eat of the new supply at her house. Bad roads 
delayed Shaw on the return trip and he did not arrive on schedule. Mrs. 
Shaw was determined not to disappoint her guests altogether so she gave a 
dinner of roast venison and baked pumpkin. 

At this time Indians, squaws and papooses were frequently seen 
passing to and fro in the neighborhood. They had a camping place back 
of where Shaw High School now stands. Their presence frightened the 
children, but no instances are recorded of their having done any harm. 

The first church in the township, and it must be understood that 
reference is made to the territory afterwards comprising East Cleveland, 
was organized in 1807. It was Congregational. This was the first 
church organized in the county as well. The meetings were held in the 
houses of the settlers until 1810, when a log meeting house was built at a 
point called Nine Mile Creek, afterwards Euclid and after that Collamer. 
This was the first church built in the county and preceded all others by 
some ten years. In 1809 Caleb Eddy built a gristmill, the first in the 
township, on a brook above the site of' Lake View cemetery. These early 
settlers were not old settlers. They were mostly voung people. This 
remark is interlarded that we may fully appreciate the following incident: 
Late one day in the fall, Mrs. Timothy Eddv, expecting her husband home, 
but not until dark, went after the cows. They had straved a long distance, 
but she heard the bell and guided by that" finally found them. When 
she tried to drive them home she found she had lost the way and the 
animals seemed more inclined to lie down than to assist in helping her find 
it. It was their bed time. After working for some time in a vain effort 
to locate her home, she gave up the thought and slept through the night, 
finding a warm place between two of the cows. As one expressed it, she 
occupied a living boudoir. In the meantime, the husband on returning 
home had roused the neighbors for a search. All night they wandered 
through the woods, shouting and carrying torches of bark, but in all 
the search they did not come near her sleeping place. When daylight 
came she made her way home and it is quite probable that she brought 
the cows. 

The first tavern keeper in the township was David Bunnel, who opened 
a tavern before the War of 1812. It was located southwest of the site 
of Collamer. In 1811 Abijah Crosby, father of Deacon Thomas D. 
Crosby, came to the township. He was one of the earliest of those in 
the township, who settled near the lake shore. Benjamin Thorp, who 
located first at the mouth of Euclid Creek, did not come until 1813.’ 

When the War of 1812 broke out the sensation among the settlers 
was intense all over the county as we have related in the various chapters 
covering the townships. The pioneers bent to the task of clearing with 
such intensity that it required much to detract their attention, but all 
recognized the vital importance of the conflict. When the news of Hull’s 
surrender came to this township and with it various tales, from time to 
time, of the murderous exploits of Indians, the few residents several 
times left their homes in alarm, but after awhile they returned to be°-in 
again their work. Their families must be fed and they went on clearmg 
and planting as before. It is, however, true that immigration practically 
ceased. On the day of Perry’s victory the people of the township and 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


287 


from other townships, were busy raising William Hale’s log barn below 
Collinwood. Cornelius Thorp, who at one time was the oldest living 
resident, was at this raising and it is from his story, given in the ’80s, 
that we get this description and the facts of the occurrences in East 
Cleveland. Men came to this raising from Warrensville and other nearby 
townships. The severe labor of the pioneers was lightened by some 
sort of amusement that did not detract from swift accomplishment. The 
raisers were divided into two rival squads and there was a strife to see 
which one would get the log up the faster. At each corner was an expert 
axman making notches and saddles to fit the logs together. Neither side 
could actually go faster than the other, as all sides of the building must go 
up together, so there was a contest at every course. While this spirited 
contest was on and men were exhibiting their prowess, and labor and 
amusement were combined, there came to the ears of the workers a 
dull thunder from the northwest. Again it came more distinct, rolling 
slowly over lake and land and forest, then another and another. Now 
every ax and every log was dropped and men simply looked into each 
other’s faces. “That’s Perry,” said one, “a fight,” “a fight,” “a battle” 
went from mouth to mouth, and the twenty or thirty men raced to the 
lake hoping to catch a view of the conflict or get some inkling of the 
probable outcome, which as one expressed it was to decide the supremacy 
of Lake Erie. They watched upon the shore, looking in the direction of 
the sound, but the fight was seventy-five miles away and they could see 
neither smoke nor sail and only the ominous succession of shocks told 
them that a battle was on. Hour after hour they listened. It would 
be a single shot and then a broadside, then scattering shots, and after a 
while the shots died out and all was still. It was over, but what was 
the outcome ? The anxious listeners from the East Cleveland log raising 
returned slowly to their homes to pass a restless, sleepless night. The next 
morning a swift riding express, a Paul Revere express, brought the news 
that Perry had won and that invasion from the white and the red foe need 
no longer be feared. 

Of the men at that raising Cornelius Thorp outlived them all and for 
many years was the sole survivor of the group at the erstwhile jolly 
raising of William Hale’s log barn. Benjamin Thorp, the father of 
Cornelius, moved to the Coit tract of 1,000 acres on the lake shore, later 
known as “Coits.” Immediately after the close of the war the settlers 
came in great numbers and soon they were in full tide. Now there 
was a slight appearance of a village where Collamer was located but 
it was called Euclid then. After the War of 1812 Enoch Murray 
started a store there, David Crocker a tannery, and like Newburgh with 
its gristmill it became a little trade center. The tannery continued in 
operation for twenty years. This point was variously called Collamer, 
Nine Mile Creek, and Euclid. In 1817 a frame church was built on 
the site of the old log one and then the little settlement could boast, for 
there was not another one in the county. In 1818 Benjamin P. Beers 
and Myndert Wemple settled in the township and the same year Enoch 
Murray was keeping store at Collamer. He sold to Mcllrath in 1820 
and he in turn sold to John Gardner. Taverns appeared along the main 
roads after the war. Benjamin S. Welch kept one at Nine Mile Creek 
and Enoch Meeker one farther west and Seth Doan another. Still, as 
the old annals put it, “rattlesnakes still hissed from their dens, and 
deer bounded past the clearings.” But the game was falling before the 
bullets of the pioneers. It was in 1820 that the big elk, already referred 
to, was chased from the Chagrin River and killed, some say in East 


288 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Cleveland. This hunter’s prize weighed 500 pounds and had horns seven 
feet long. 

By 1825 the character of the township by the patient labors of the 
pioneers was rapidly changing. One-half of the log houses, thanks to 
the sawmills, had been replaced by frame ones. In the north part every 
lot had a settler. In the south part there were not so many. There were 
a few frame houses, somewhat scattered, and quite a widespread wilder¬ 
ness yet remained. In the old voting list of the Township of Euclid 
many names of East Cleveland settlers appear as they are credited to 
both townships. The immigration was checked by the War of 1812, but 
continued following the war in increased proportions. This continued 
until 1837, when for three years there was another check due to the hard 
times. At Nine Mile Creek, Sargent Currier kept store, ran a sawmill, 
and later built a steam gristmill. There Abner Mcllrath opened a tavern 
in 1837 and Samuel Lenter operated a tannery. When R. H. Strowbridge 
came in 1840 he had it recorded that Sargent Currier was still keeping 
store, and Alvin Hollister the tavern; the wild game—at least the large 
game, was practically all gone, as were the rattlesnakes. He also bore 
witness to the fact that the west part of the township was the last to settle. 

From this time a change came over the trend of settlement, for Cleve¬ 
land began to be a real growing city and spread out over the outlying 
territory. At the June session of the county commissioners in 1847 the 
Township of East Cleveland was formed from the territory of Euclid 
and Cleveland, principally, but Warrensville and Newburgh at this time 
or later added some territory to the new township. If as we have stated 
at the opening of this chapter, the township was really erected in 1846, 
the first town meeting was not held until June 26, 1847. The first officers 
of the township were: Trustees, Theron Woodworth, Ahimaz Sherwin and 
Samuel Erwin; clerk, Ansel Young; treasurer, Joel Jones; assessor, 
Freeman Whitman. Joel Jones declined to serve and N. Pittsbury was 
appointed in his stead. For many years after the township was formed 
it had a thriving village. It became inconvenient to call it Euclid being 
so near the township of the same name, so it was called Collamer. In 
1852 the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroad, later the Lake 
Shore & Michigan Southern, and now the New York Central Railway, 
operated from Cleveland to Erie through the northern part. This 
would naturally attract a population, but the beauty of the locations at 
the foot of the ridge between Cleveland and Collamer were quickly 
observed by citizens of Cleveland and purchases were made especially 
around Collamer. Thus began the extension eastward of Euclid Avenue, 
which finally rivalled in beauty the streets of the world. Some years 
following the period of which we are writing Bayard Taylor, the famous 
world traveler, pronounced this street the finest in the world. Its change 
toward a great industrial thoroughfare will be more properly discussed 
in the chapters on Cleveland. 

We are now approaching the period of the Civil war and will only 
say before taking up the history of the township following that the 
ra:ord of this township takes rank with the best. In the history of 
Cleveland more attention will be given to the general record of the 
townships in the war. In 1862 James Haycox opened a valuable quarry 
of sandstone in the southern part of the township on the farm cleared 
by John Welch. The character of the stone is similar to much in the 
county. The most important upheaval in the political fortunes of the 
township occurred in 1867 when the village of East Cleveland was 
annexed to Cleveland. Collamer seemed to take on new life as if the 
loss of the other village must be made up. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


289 


The records of the county commissioners under the heading of 
East Cleveland have a number of entries: June, 1846, application for 
the formation of East Cleveland township filed. Afterwards application 
granted. In 1847 certain territory added to the township of East Cleve¬ 
land taken from the Township of Euclid. August 6, 1866, East Cleve¬ 
land Village established. November 6, 1872, Glenville Village established. 
February 3, 1878, a portion of East Cleveland Township annexed to 
Cleveland. June 4, 1883, Collinwood Village established out of East 
Cleveland and Euclid townships. June 16, 1892, a portion of East Cleve¬ 
land Township annexed to Cleveland. May 22, 1895, Lake Hamlet estab¬ 
lished out of East Cleveland Township. April 18, 1896, Collinwood 
Township established out of the Village of Collinwood. October 12, 1900, 
Cleveland Heights Hamlet established. These entries do not run in chro¬ 
nological order for the next entry is October 11, 1866, East Cleveland Vil¬ 
lage established. Then comes February 3, 1872, the Village of Collamer 
incorporated. October 19, 1872, East Cleveland Village annexed to 
Qeveland. August 6, 1890, the Hamlet of East Cleveland established. 
December 6, 1894, the Hamlet of East Cleveland advanced to a village. 
East Cleveland Village, the second, has since been advanced to the grade 
of a city, which entry does not appear on the commissioners’ records and 
is not necessarily a part thereof. 

The old annals before the ’80s give a survey of the municipalities 
of East Cleveland, in this wise: “Collamer has churches, one academy, 
four stores, one postoffice, one doctor, two meat markets, one cider 
mill, one shoe shop, one tannery, and 1,000 inhabitants. On the rail¬ 
road, one mile north, is Collinwood. Here are the roundhouses of the 
Lake Shore Railway. Collinwood is laid out on a liberal plan with 
streets enough for a small city, which it promises to become. It has 
churches, three schools, six stores, four doctors, two drug stores, one 
hardware store, two boot stores, one clothing store, two millinery stores, 
one hotel, The Warren House, two livery stables, two news depots, one 
wagon and blacksmith shop, one harness shop, three meat markets, and 
a population of 1,500. The repair shops and roundhouses, the 
building of which began in 1873, were finished in 1875. In the latter 
year a post office was established.” The old account goes on to say 
that “Lake View, near the Lake View Cemetery, is another location 
where there is a prospect of another fine suburban village. The Lake 
View & Collamer Railroad, called the Dummy, gives access to the city 
along the main road. On the ridge grape growing flourishes. The soil 
is equally productive with Euclid. The grapes are generally sold in 
bulk but some wine is made. J. J. Preyer’s Lake View wine farm is 
one of the most celebrated wine producing places in the county. The 
Village of Glenville on the lake shore includes about three square miles 
of territory, but only a part is built up. The Lake Shore Railway passes 
through it and has a depot there, while the Lake View & Collamer 
Dummy skirts its southern boundary. The Northern Ohio Fair Grounds 
are a little west of the center of the village. This was incorporated in 
1872 and W. J. Brassie and R. M. N. Taylor are its trustees. Of the 
village, William J. Gordon was the first mayor, and he was followed by 
W. H. Gaylord. Glenville has three stores, three hotels, one blacksmith 
shop, one shoe shop, and one carriage shop. It has a population of 500. 
The whole of East Cleveland, except Glenville, and a few farms, is 
incorporated for special purposes, having the powers of a village as to 
road improvements, etc.” 

Higher education began in East Cleveland with the founding of Shaw 
Academy. In 1835, the old pioneer, John Shaw, died, having no chil- 


290 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


dren, he left his property to found an academy. The property consisted 
mostly of a farm a short distance northwest from Collamer. The farm 
was sold by his executor for $5,000. The people of the vicinity sub¬ 
scribed the money to erect a building for the academy and the money 
left by Shaw was placed in a fund for the support of the school. Trus¬ 
tees were appointed and the school was opened and operated like any 
other country academy until 1868. Then as the school did not prosper 
as desired or expected, the building was leased and public school money 
was applied toward its support and it became partly a public school and 
partly an academy. In 1877 the trustees of the academy leased the 
building to the school directors of Collamer for a district school, but of 
a higher grade. Of the various stages of development up to the present 
Shaw High School of the City of East Cleveland, famous as a pro¬ 
gressive and leading school, second perhaps to none in the county, muct^ 
may be said. Of its present status we will speak further on. 

The first Presbyterian, or Congregational Church of Collamer, of 
which we have spoken, was founded in 1807, being the first and for 
ten years the only church in the county. It was formed on what was 
known as a plan of union, adopted by the General Assembly of the 
Presbyterian Church and the General Association of Congregational 
Churches. It was Congregational at first but was connected with the 
Presbytery for “discipline and mutual encouragement.” It took the 
name of the Church of Christ in Euclid, that being the township when 
it was organized. The first members were Nathaniel Doan, Sarah 
Doan, John Ruple, Thomas Mcllrath, Elizabeth Mcllrath, Sarah Shaw, 
Eunice Eddy, Abram L. Norris, Abigail Norris, George Kilbourne, 
Almira Kilbourne, Andrew Mcllrath, Abigail Mcllrath, Anna 
Bunnell, and Isabelle Mcllrath. The strictness of discipline and the 
existence among the pioneers of amusements are both shown by entries 
on the old church records. One of August 29, 1807, reads as follows: 
“A. L. and Abigail Norris confessed to dancing ‘not long before’ (this 
must refer to a period before they joined the church) and expressed 
contrition. Sarah Shaw admitted the fact of dancing but would not 
make a public confession and was suspended.” At the first meeting 
of the church, John Ruple and George Kilbourne were appointed as a 
standing committee. They may have been entrusted with certain lines 
of discipline. The second entry on the old church record shows the 
meeting to have been held at the house of Nathaniel Doan. “Caleb 
and Nancy Eddy admitted joining the ‘Halcyon Church,’ supposing it 
to be Christian. They expressed their sorrow for having done so.” 
This Halcyon Church was a heterodox institution which started up in 
Euclid, flourished for a time and disappeared. The members claimed to 
be Christians. Their right to the name seems to have been questioned. 
At this meeting of the church, aside from the Caleb and Nancy Eddy 
matter, there were other cases of discipline. There is this entry: 
“Mrs. Shaw publicly professed repentance for her dancing of long 
ago and was duly reinstated in the church.” Numerous cases occurred 
during the early years of the church, mostly on account of members 
dancing or allowing their children to do so. In the summer of 1811 
nearly all the members publicly acknowledged their wrongdoing in per¬ 
mitting their children to attend the Fourth of July ball. Some time 
before this, to-wit, March 15, 1810, the church adopted the Presbyterian 
model and put themselves under its discipline and Rev. Thomas Barr 
was made a regular pastor. He was not regularly ordained until August 
of that year. At this time Andrew Mcllrath and John Ruple were 
appointed ruling elders. It was at this time that the log church already 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


291 


referred to was built. This log building during its entire existence was 
the only church m Cuyahoga County. As stated, a frame church was 
built on the site of the old log one in 1817. 

Rev. Thomas Barr stayed until 1820. It then had no regular pastor, 
but Rev. Randolph Stoner came out from Cleveland and preached from 
time to time up to 1823. After that Rev. Stephen J. Bradstreet supplied 
until 1825, when Rev. Stephen Peet was ordained as pastor and continued 
in that capacity until 1833. For two years from that time the head was 
Rev. E. S. Scott, and the following two years Rev. E. Adams. Rev. H. 
Blodgett remained as pastor a longer period, serving from 1837 to 1843. 
He was succeeded by Rev. E. N. Nicols. During his pastorate the cele¬ 
brated revivalist, Rev. J. Burchard, conducted a powerful series of revival 
meetings in the winter of ’43 and ’44. Rev. Benjamin Page was 
pastor of this original church for three years, from ’44 to ’46, inclusive. 
In 1847, the old annals state, Rev. William Beecher, the brother of 
Henry Ward Beecher, began as stated supply and continued until 1849. 
He was succeeded by Rev. Jonas Bigelow, who died while serving as 
the pastor, in 1854. During his first year as the church head (1851) 
fourteen members withdrew to form the Free Congregational Church. 
The cause of this departure lay not in religious differences, but in differ¬ 
ences over the question of slavery, which was then a much discussed 
institution. For several years before this action was taken there had been 
a strong feeling that members of the Presbyterian Church of Collamer 
should bear stronger testimony against slavery than they had done. On 
the 27th day of December, 1851, these fourteen members withdrew and 
presented a memorial declaring that they could not continue in connec¬ 
tion with the church while it maintained fellowship with slaveholders. 
This memorial was signed by John Ruple, Asa Weston, R. Dutton, Asa 
Cady, Teresa Cady, Alma Ruple, H. A. C. Adams, Ezekiel Adams, Orpha 
Adams, L. C. Ruple. Mina Ruple, H. L. Ruple, Hannah Ruple, and John 
Perkins. The church voted to give them honorable dismissal with let¬ 
ters to any church which they might desire to join. The fourteen then 
organized into The Free Congregational Church of Collamer. For three 
or four years they met in a schoolhouse, the numbers increased and the 
congregation built a brick church at Collamer. The original church con¬ 
tinued. Andrew Sharp was installed as pastor in 1854 and remained two 
years. Rev. Hiram Bingham began service as stated supply in 1856. 
Two years later Rev. F. McGinnis was installed as pastor, and he re¬ 
mained ten years. The records of the church show it to have been styled 
The First Presbyterian Church of Euclid up to 1867, although it had been 
in the Township of East Cleveland, as formed, for nineteen years. From 
that date it is styled in the records The Presbyterian Church of Collamer. 
From 1867 Rev. R. H. Leonard acted as a supply for five years, and then 
Rev. H. P. Barnes was installed as a regular pastor, and he remained 
two years and was succeeded by Rev. E. S. Scott. 

In June, 1877, more than a decade after the close of the Civil war 
that settled the question of slavery, a union was effected with the Free 
Congregational Church of Collamer. Each was to keep its own organ¬ 
ization, but the two churches to unite in all work and in the employment 
of a pastor. Members were to be admitted by the joint action of both 
churches, but to be dismissed by separate action, and the meetings to be 
held in the original Presbyterian or Congregational Church building. Of 
this original first church in the county, the elders in the ’80s were John 
Aldrich, J. M. Page, T. D. Crosby, Joseph Day, Joseph Parks, Frederick 
King, and Isaac Brush. The two churches came together in the Sunday 


Vol. 1-10 


292 CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 

school as well, and William H. Coit was the superintendent after the 
union. 

Saint Paul’s Church, Protestant Episcopal, is another of the early 
churches of Collamer. Its church building in the center of Collamer, built 
of stone, was begun in 1846 and finished in 1856. The services at first 
were conducted by Cleveland clergymen. Rev. Eli Adams officiated from 
’53 to ’54; N. P. Chariot, ’66 to ’69, and Rev. Thomas Lyle was rector 
beginning with that year. The sittings were made free and the church 
supported by weekly offerings and subscriptions. Before the ’80s there 
were 110 communicants, 100 baptized, and a large number confirmed. A 
rectory adjoining the church building was built in 1867. Fifty years 
ago the wardens were John Doan and J. W. Ogram, and the vestrymen 
R. Gerrard, G. Doan, W. Oliver, J. W. Doan, B. Gray, and L. B. Beers. 
It will be noticed that the Doan family spell the name in some periods 
Doan, and in others Doane. Apparently the final e was used in the early 
years. 

The Disciple Church of Collamer was organized in 1829. The first 
members were Luther Dille, Clarissa Dille, Eri M. Dille, Laurilla Jones, 
Leonard Marsilliot, Edithea Cranney, Desire Perry, Mary Anne Perry, 
Fanny Cranney, and Nancy Hale. The organization meeting was held in 
a log schoolhouse, west of what was afterwards the residence of E. M. 
Dille. The first ruling elder was Luther Dille. In those days much was 
left to the ruling elder, who became a sort of manager. The little organ¬ 
ization grew, and in 1840 a frame church building was put up in Collamer. 
Rev. A. S. Hayden was one of the principal ministers, who from time to 
time came out to help carry on the work of the church. In 1862 a new 
brick church was built, and Reverend Hayden was the pastor from ’63 to 
’66, and Rev. A. B. Green from ’66 to ’68. In the latter year Rev. W. B. 
Hendrix held protracted meetings, when some 100 united with the church. 

This church became a sort of parent church for this denomination. 
Over twenty Disciple churches in various parts of the West were founded 
by emigrants from Euclid and East Cleveland, who had belonged to the 
Collamer Church. A Disciple Church was organized at Collinwood really 
as an offshoot from the Collamer organization. In February, 1878, at 
the suggestion of E. M. Dille of the Collamer Church, who offered to 
pay the preliminary expenses, Hendrix began a series of Disciples meet¬ 
ings at Collinwood, and in April of that year a church was organized there 
with fifty-nine members. Immediately the proposition of building was 
agitated, and in ten days, starting less than two months from the organ¬ 
ization of the church, a building costing $2,500 was completed. Of this 
cost Mr. Dille contributed $800. As combining patriotism and religion, 
this building was dedicated on July 4, 1878. The overseers in the ’80s 
were the same in the Collamer and Collinwood churches, Deacon George 
Morse and Alexander Mcllrath. 

The Congregational Church of Collinwood seemed also to have been 
promoted by the Collamer Church, for a frame church was built there 
before an organization was effected. The church building was erected in 
1874, and the church organized the following year. The first pastor was 
Rev. Josiah Turner, and the acting deacons in 1879 were L. Cody, 
J. Pronting, C. Hoagland, and George Reading, and the trustees, L. Cody, 
William Greenless, Benjamin Carter, and William Jonghin. 

Turning to the civil government of the township we find that the 
names of many old pioneer families appear in the list of its officers. Of 
those who have served as trustees in the first half century of its separate 
existence are Benjamin Cranford, Samuel Erwin, Joel Jones, Hiram 
Mcllrath, Benjamin S. Welch, J. P. Doan, Darius Ford, Robert Harlow, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


293 


John Welch, Lyman Crosby, B. P. Beers, Lassel Birge, E. H. Lacy, Jon¬ 
athan C. Bowles, D. A. Beers, J. R. Walters, Park B. Clark, G. Watkins, 
Joseph Phillips, Frederick P. Silsby, William Treat, Darius Adams, 
Alfred Talbot, Joseph Slaght, F. L. Burt, George Mather, Sargent Cur¬ 
rier, L. F. Beers, C. W. Dellenbaugh, R. C. Meeker, James Haycox, 
Andrew Wemple, J. O. Meeker, W. P. Hudson, Robert Harlow, Seth 
Minor, Joseph Ames, Marion Minor, Joseph Parks, and William Quil- 
liams. Clerks, Ansel Young, Horatio Ford, E. T. Sturtevant, S. W. 
Baldwin, W. B. Waring, Norton Doan, and William James. Treasurers, 
B. T. Blackwell, Daniel R. Hildreth, John R. Walters, N. L. Post, Henry 
Ford, A. C. Stevens, and William James. Assessors, Benjamin P. Beers, 
H. N. Smith, S. A. Baldwin, M. A. Bard, Levi Thomas, and Anson 
Bartlett. 

We will only speak in this connection of a few whose names appear 
as having served the township in the early years. The Doan family was 
one of the most prominent. In 1879 John Doan was the earliest surviving 
male resident of the county, and hence gets prominence in the earlier 
annals. We have referred to Timothy and Nathaniel. It is an English 
family name, and as originally written, Done, was pronounced with the 
long o as it was when the spelling was changed to Doane and then to 
Doan. The name Done signifies a race of warriors, and several chiefs of 
the house of Done were in the battles of Agincourt and Flodden. The 
original John Doane crossed the Atlantic for America in one of the first 
three ships that sailed from Plymouth, landing here in 1630. One brother 
came about the same time and landed in Canada, and another in Virginia. 
Thus the three points of landing were the separate attraction of the three. 
John Doane took a prominent part in the new Plymouth Colony, and in 
1633 was chosen assistant to Governor Winslow. He held at the same 
time another position that was deemed a very important one in those 
days, he was deacon in the church at Plymouth and Eastham. He had 
five children, and these all had large families. Daniel had five children 
by his first wife, and among them was Joseph, born in 1669. Joseph 
had twelve children, and among them was Joseph, Junior, who married 
Deborah Haddock in 1725. Joseph Doane, Jr., removed with his wife to 
Middle Haddam on the Connecticut River, in Connecticut, and engaged 
in shipbuilding. His third son, Seth Doane, born in 1733, married 
Mercey Parker. They had nine children, and among them was a second 
Seth Doane. The two Seth Doanes, father and son, were taken pris¬ 
oners by the British in the Revolutionary war. Seth Doane, Jr., died, 
and the father, with the balance of his family, came West. The Doanes 
of Cuyahoga we have thus traced from Flodden Field to the wilderness 
of the Western Reserve. Timothy, whom we have mentioned as one of 
the three first Common Pleas judges of the county, was a son of Seth. 
He married Mary Carey, and they had a family of ten children. Tim¬ 
othy traveled from Herkimer County, New York, where he was born, to 
Buffalo with a team of horses and a team of oxen. The family stayed in 
Buffalo while he came to Cuyahoga. After a slow journey he finally 
reached the home of his brother Nathaniel, who had settled at Doan’s 
Corners. He then bought two lots in Euclid, later East Cleveland. In 
the spring of 1801 he sent for his family, who came from Buffalo in an 
open boat to Painesville or Fairport. Here the boat became disabled and 
sank. They then traveled overland, the party of five riding on two horses 
and finding their way through the woods by the burned trees. John Doan 
was the son of Judge Timothy Doan and lived on the farm that Timothy 
bought over eighty years. He married Anolivia Baldwin, daughter of 
Seth Baldwin of Cleveland. 


294 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


William Quilliams is one who had a wide acquaintance over the county. 
He was a soldier in the Civil war, and lost a forearm in battle. For many 
years he was an officer in the Court of Appeals of Cuyahoga County and 
there through his efficient work won a host of friends. 

Col. A. C. Mcllrath, a pioneer of the early days in the township, de¬ 
serves especial mention. He came with his parents to the township when 
five years of age. The log cabin that was the first home was situated on 
the south side of Euclid Avenue near the present entrance to Lake View 
Cemetery. The only neighbors, when they came, were the families of 
Benjamin Jones, Samuel Cozad, and Mr. Doan. He, Col. A. C. Mcllrath, 
grew to manhood amid the wild scenes of pioneer life. He was six feet 
seven inches in height and well proportioned. He served for several years 
as justice of the peace, and in 1832 erected the Mcllrath tavern. Here he 
officiated as landlord for forty-four years. He was justice of the peace 
at the time of his death. He was always proud of the fact that his father 
laid out Euclid Avenue. He was a well educated man and a competent 
civil engineer. The Mcllraths became very numerous in the county. 
Col. A. C. Mcllrath had thirteen children, having married in early life 
Eliza Picor. The men were usually large in stature and fearless in the 
discharge of their duties. It is related of one that at one time having 
a warrant for a character wanted for crime, and in endeavoring to serve 
it the man tried to escape by whipping up his horse and driving away, but 
Mcllrath caught the wheel of the buggy and held it with such strength 
that the horse soon gave up the struggle, and Mcllrath got his prisoner. 
Several of the family were soldiers in the Civil war. O. P. Mcllrath is 
an honorary member of the Early Settlers’ Association of Cuyahoga 
County by reason of his service in the army in the War of the Rebellion. 

The Fords deserve mention. We have mentioned Henry, who served 
as township treasurer, and Horatio Ford, who served as clerk. Their 
father, Cyrus, came to East Cleveland in 1841 and bought 100 acres of 
land on the north side of Euclid Avenue. He was interested in an attempt 
to produce silk in Cuyahoga County. He planted mulberry trees and 
hatched 1,500,000 silk worms, but never succeeded in getting a single 
cocoon. He at least demonstrated the fact that they could not be pro¬ 
duced in this climate. 

The Cozads are identified with this township in its early history. 
Samuel Cozad came to East Cleveland in 1808. Before his death he and 
his sons owned all the land lying between Doan Brook and the Dugway, 
which passes through Lake View Cemetery. The grounds of the Western 
Reserve University are partly of the original purchase by Mr. Cozad. 
Samuel was the grandfather of Justus L. Cozad, who with Mr. Odell, 
began the abstract business in Cleveland. 

Only two corporations remain, formed from the Township of East 
Cleveland, East Cleveland City, and Bratenahl Village. The township 
has no existence as a political division. 

East Cleveland City 

Like Lakewood, East Cleveland is largely a city of homes, and except 
for its local government is seemingly but a residence section of Cleveland. 
It is the development of old Collin wood into an up-to-date city, and in 
a short time. It was one of the first cities in the country, and the first in 
the county to adopt the city manager plan of government, and the East 
Cleveland City Hall is the national headquarters of the National City 
Managers’ Association of the United States. Former City Manager 
•C. M. Osborne of East Cleveland is president of this association, and 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


295 


Paul B. Wilcox of East Cleveland, secretary. As indicating the growth 
of the city in the last few years we will state that the tax valuation of the 
city in 1918, when the city manager plan was put into effect, was 
$40,000,000, and as shown by the annual report for 1922 it was $53,000,- 
000 in round numbers. The population in the same period increased from 
25,000 to 32,000. The present government is styled the commission- 
manager plan of government. The present commissioners are W. M. 
Pattison, who is president; E. M. Sprague, who is vice president; Mrs. 
W. A. Siddall, J. F. Pease, and John R. Moxon. The city manager is 
Charles A. Carran, who in October, 1922, succeeded C. M. Osborne, who 
was the first city manager of the town. F. D. Green is director of 
finance; E. A. Binyon, director of law; M. W. Garnett, city engineer; 
L. G. Corlett, chief of police; E. T. Woolway, chief of fire; Stanton 
Adams, police justice; Dr. G. W. Stober, director of health, and Mrs. 
Ethel S. Ingraham, director of welfare. As showing the advance from 
the original pioneer government of the fathers, an outline of this new plan 
of government now in operation may be of historical interest. First, 
the people elect a city commission of five members, a Board of Education 
of five members, and a judge of the Municipal Court. Second, the city 
commission appoints a sinking fund commission, a city manager, and a 
director of finance. Third, the city manager appoints a director of law, 
a director of health, a civil service commission with the approval of the 
city commission, and all other employees of the city. The city manager 
acts as the director of public safety and the director of public service. This 
form of government, like all forms of government, works better with 
good men at the helm, and the city seems to be well officered. That is the 
most important consideration. Pope once said: “For forms of govern¬ 
ment let fools contest, whate’er is best administered is best.” East Cleve¬ 
land spent in 1922 for its police department $47,420.22, and for its fire 
department $61,630.76. It has over forty miles of paved streets, seventy- 
five miles of sewers, nearly that length of sidewalks, and about fifteen 
acres of parks. With an area of only three square miles, it has a tax 
value of $53,250,000. Its bonded indebtedness is about $2,000,000. 

Like Cleveland Heights and other large municipalities of the county 
the schools have advanced with great rapidity and have been a great factor 
in drawing a fine class of citizens. From the establishment of Shaw 
Academy, a school for higher instruction than the “little red school” 
afforded, it built up a fine educational system in a comparatively short 
time. The total enumeration in the public schools of East Cleveland for 
the past year was 6,053, and the number of teachers employed 242. There 
are seven school buildings, the Prospect School, with E. M. Preston as 
principal; Superior School, with Belle L. Parks as principal; Roselle 
School, with Della Freeborn as principal; Mayfair School, with J. E. 
Pettit as principal; Chambers School, with M. E. Williams as principal; 
Caledonia School, with Ella Hill as principal, and Shaw High School, with 
Josephine Barnaby as principal. W. H. Kirk is the superintendent, with 
offices at Shaw High School. There were 216 in the graduating class of 
1923. The enrollment in all the schools for the new year indicated an 
increase of about 10 per cent over the former year. Shaw High School 
employs 82 teachers, and has an enrollment of 1,556. The old bequest of 
Mr. Shaw which we have referred to, and which was used in opening and 
aiding Shaw Academy, is still in evidence and the proceeds, about $300 
annually, is applied towards the support of the school, now only a drop in 
the bucket, as Superintendent Kirk expressed it. 

East Cleveland maintains three public libraries, the Mam Library at 
14101 Euclid Avenue, the North Branch at 14303 Shaw Avenue, and 


296 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Shaw High School Branch at Shaw High School. The library board has 
seven members, Stephen W. Tener, president; Mrs. T. H. Bushnell, vice 
president; O. F. Emerson, secretary and treasurer; Mrs. James H. Gris¬ 
wold, Walter E. Myers, Henry A. Taylor, and David Brooks, Jr. The 
increased use of the libraries is shown by the following figures as to cir¬ 
culation: In 1918, 54,452; the next year, about 151,000; the next, 
181,000, and in 1922, nearly 200,000 volumes were drawn. 

The various departments of the city are in competent hands. L. G. 
Corlett, chief of police, has had twenty-five years’ experience in the Cleve¬ 
land police department. E. T. Woolway is chief of the fire department, 
and W. G. Dillon, superintendent of the street department. A. B. Stewart 
is foreman of the water department, and William S. Potter is market mas¬ 
ter. John H. Melville is instructor in the parks and playgrounds; J. W. 
Barrow, city electrician, and M. W. Garnett is building inspector. Sec¬ 
ond in population of the three cities in the county outside of Cleveland, 
and the only one which has adopted the manager plan of government, 
East Cleveland is not second in progressive and practical civic pride and 
accomplishment. One item that was overlooked in the brief review of the 
school system was that of the fine Stadium connected with Shaw High 
School, which was dedicated in October and which will seat something 
like 15,000 people. The athletic field is well equipped by this addition. 

Bratenahl 

This village of twenty years is a most interesting section of the county, 
saved from the grasp of a great city. We do not mean by this that there 
is danger from the political absorption by the metropolis, but a village 
can not exist as an integral part of the other, and hence the expression. 
Bratenahl extends along the lake in a long, narrow tract of beautiful homes 
and boulevards, of trees and cultivated shrubs, of flowers and well kept 
lawns. It has but two manufacturing establishments, and both are of the 
quiet kind and do not break the harmony of the whole. They were in 
existence when the village was formed, the Marble and Shattuck Chair 
Company, a scion of the Bedford factory of that name, and the Lucas 
Machine-Tool Company. The territory of the village was formerly a 
part of the Village of Glenville. In 1904 the Township of Bratenahl was 
formed from this territory. An election was held, and John H. Beattie 
was elected justice of the peace. The township then functioned, but as 
a judicial township. Immediately steps were taken to form a village, and 
so rapidly did they advance that in November an election was held for the 
selection of its officers. They were chosen as follows: Mayor, Liberty E. 
Holden; clerk, Clifford A. Neff; treasurer, Charles H. Gale; councilmen, 
Abram Garfield, Christian Gottschalt, R. L. Ireland, James A. Patton, 
C. W. Pratt, and N. W. Stanley; marshal, John G. Newkirk. It is prob¬ 
ably a statement that can not be truthfully controverted that no set of 
officers in any village or city of the county included so many men of such 
high business standing as did the men chosen at this first election in 
Bratenahl. 

It is an interesting fact that in all of its twenty years of existence 
there has never been an election contest. Onlv one ticket has been in the 
field at any election. The first clerk of the village, Clifford A. Neff, ap¬ 
pointed as his assistant Miss Mary H. Giles, which office she still holds, 
and there is not a word or a line in the records of the clerk’s office that has 
not been transcribed by her. She is also clerk of the school board It 
may be interesting to note that she is the daughter of Sidney W. Giles, 
who was well known in the county for many years as secretary of the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


297 


Glenville Race Track Association, which conducted the races where so 
many notable events occurred and where so many world records were 
broken. 

The present officers of the village are: Mayor, R. F. Grant; clerk, 
A. H. Fieback; treasurer, H. P. McIntosh, Jr.; assessor, G. M. Soul; 
marshal, C. E. Cole; councilmen, C. S. Britton, J. E. Ferris, Abram Gar¬ 
field, C. N. Hickok, Herman Moss, and H. E. Sheffield. In 1918 a 
municipal building was constructed, costing, with the grounds, improve¬ 
ments and equipment, approximately $60,000. At this time R. L. Ireland 
was mayor; Clifford A. Neff, clerk; Charles H. Gale, treasurer, and the 
council consisted of C. S. Britton, B. P. Bole, A. S. Chisholm, Abram 
Garfield, Max McMurray, and N. W. Stanley. On the walls of the 
council chamber of the new building hangs a fine oil painting of Aaron 
Williams, the old lamp lighter, who served in that capacity “since the mind 
of man runs not to the contrary.” 

The schools of Bratenahl are housed in a commodious building on East 
One Hundred and Fifth Street. There are eight teachers, and the enroll¬ 
ment is 158. The principal is Miss Sara Bair. This is a grade school, 
and the pupils are permitted to attend the high schools of Cleveland until 
graduation, their tuition being paid by the village. The school board con¬ 
sists of W. E. Durstine, president; Miss Mary H. Giles, as we have said, 
clerk; A. D. Baldwin, Mrs. J. P. Burton, E. A. Foote, and Charles L. 
Stocker. 

It would be of interest to trace the history of many who have entered 
into the political life of Bratenahl, but as they are so essentially a part of 
Greater Cleveland they will be considered in connection with later chapters. 
As to the selection of the name, it was taken from Bratenahl Road, an old 
East Cleveland-Euclid thoroughfare, which came, it is alleged, from an 
early pioneer family. 


CHAPTER XXIV 


RANGE 12, NUMBER 8, CLEVELAND TOWNSHIP 


Except for the uneven shore of Lake Erie, this township would have 
contained a tract five miles square. It is the last of the subdivisions of 
Cuyahoga County that we are to consider, and as much of the history 
of Cuyahoga County centers here, we will consider it in its various stages of 
development. While the townships of the Reserve have been variously 
divided in the survey, some in quarter township divisions, some in 100- 
acre lots, this one distinct from all the rest began with a survey of a city 
with smaller lots. A surveyed city is not a city, hence we must first dis¬ 
cuss the township with this added distinction. In September of 1796 the 
surveying party under Moses Cleveland, engaged in the survey of the 
Connecticut Western Reserve, came to this township, known only as num¬ 
ber 8 in range 12, and laid out the plan of a city and named it, with the 
township, Cleveland, in honor of Moses Cleveland, the commander of the 
expedition, and then on October 18th they went away. The surveyors 
were professional men, their expenses were paid and they, after their 
arduous labors on the survey, went back to New England to rest up for 
another year. The following year they again made Cleveland their head- 
quarters. To recite in brief the condition of the enterprise—Moses Cleve¬ 
land was a director of the Connecticut Land Company, and was given a 
power of attorney as follows: “To Moses Cleveland—We the directors 
. J" i Connecticut Land Company having appointed you to go on to 
said land as superintendent over the agents and men sent on to survey 
and make locations on said land, to make and enter into friendly rela¬ 
tions with the natives, who are on said land or contiguous thereto and 
may have any pretended claim to the same, and secure such friendly inter¬ 
course amongst them as will establish peace, quiet and safety to the sur¬ 
vey and settlement of said lands not ceded by the natives under the 
authority of the United States. 


You are hereby for the foregoing purpose fully authorized and em¬ 
powered to act and transact all the above business in as full and ample a 
manner as we, ourselves, could do, to make contracts in the foregoing 
matters in our behalf and stead and make such drafts on our treasury as 
AnH ^n^ eS f ary j° aCC0 ', llplish the foregoing object of your appointment. 

, a , a 2 ent . s an jf ' neri hy us employed and sent on to survey and settle 
said land to be obedient to your orders and directions. And you are to 
be accountable for all monies by you received, conforming your conduct 
to such orders and directions as we may, from time to time give you and 
to do and act in all matters according to your best skill and judgment 

need ul” Land Com* 6 1 , and success of laid 8 Com 

necticut Land Company, having more particularly for vour guide the 

Company” AsS0ClatI0n entered lnt0 and signed by the individuals of said 

Th Y. Procedure rip to the point of sending out the surveyors was like 

. U ty mC ?- b “ Ug c t out t c his tract ( the Western Reserve) from the 
State of Connecticut. Some of the names of these men are familiar in this 
county and city, that is the family name, Joseph Howland, Daniel S Ccft 

298 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


299 


Elias Morgan, Caleb Atwater, Samuel Mather, Jr., Ephraim Kirby, Gideon 
Granger, Jr., Solomon Cowles, Moses Cleveland, Samuel P. Lord, and 
Aaron Olmsted. The fifty original purchasers paid for the land to the 
State of Connecticut by forming a pool as it is sometimes called. The 
amount paid to the state was $1,200,000. This sum was placed in the 
school fund of the state and has remained there. This body of men or¬ 
ganized into the Connecticut Land Company. The deed from the State 
of Connecticut must have been a joint deed to all the contributors, for they 
all joined in a deed of trust to Jonathan Brace, John Caldwell, and John 
Morgan, authorizing them to give deeds to purchasers. Of course they 
had bought this tract of land to sell again. It was not altogether a rosy 
proposition. It was known that a large part of this land was on the west 
side of the Cuyahoga River and could not be disposed of until the Indian 
rights were extinguished. This purchase was to include 3,000,000 acres 
and it was generally assumed that there was much more land in the tract, 
exclusive of the Fire Lands, and so several gentlemen offered to take the 
balance from the state, it is presumed at the same price, 40 cents per acre. 
These men were called the Excess Company. Naturally they must await 
the more accurate survey of the first, the Connecticut Land Company. In 
order to make an accurate division of the profits according to the amount 
each man had put into the pool the company organized as a corporation 
with a capital of $1,200,000 divided into 400 shares of $3,000 each. These 
shares were distributed in proportion to what each man had paid into the 
enterprise. A board of directors was chosen as follows: Oliver Phelps, 
Henry Champion 2nd, Moses Cleveland, Samuel W. Johnson, Ephraim 
Kirby, Samuel Mather, Jr., and Roger Newberry. Articles of agreement 
adopted provided that the tract should be surveyed into townships five 
miles square, the part east of the Cuyahoga as soon as possible, that west 
as soon as the Indians were bought off. Some townships were to be sold 
to pay the expenses of the survey. Moses Cleveland, a lawyer of Canter¬ 
bury, Windam County, Connecticut, forty years old, was chosen as one 
of the directors to manage the survey in person. Some generalship would 
be required in this undertaking, and he had been promoted by successive 
stages to the generalship of the Fifth Brigade of the Connecticut State 
Militia. This may not have been taken into consideration in the selection, 
but he was of a dark complexion and some writers have suggested that 
by reason of that fact he was more successful in dealing with the Indians, 
as they often took him for one of their race. Be that as it may he was 
an able man of great natural dignity of carriage, scholarly, and a born 
leader. As to the spelling of his name we use the present spelling, but 
the records show that he wrote it both Cleaveland and Cleveland, and the 
history of the section from which his ancestors came to America gives 
the spelling Cleveland. Seth Pease, the astronomer and one of the leading 
surveyors of the expedition led by the General, spells it Cleveland on his 
maps. 

Of this surveying party Augustus Porter of Connecticut was the 
principal surveyor, and Deputy Superintendent Seth Pease we have men¬ 
tioned. The other surveyors were Amos Spafford, John M. Holly, Rich¬ 
ard M. Stoddard, and Moses Warren. Joshua Stow was commissary of 
the expedition, and Dr. Theodore Shepard, physician. There were thirty- 
six other employees. The various members of the expedition were directed 
to assemble at Canandaigua, New York, on the southeast shore of Lake 
Ontario, and from there they proceeded in a body to the Western Reserve, 
mostly by boats. In getting here they rowed, sailed, and walked the 
shore. This expedition involved large expense, and apparently each mem¬ 
ber kept a record of his expenses to present to the company, in connec- 


300 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


tion with a diary for general information, from the time of leaving his 
home. From the diary of Seth Pease, one of the young surveyors, pre¬ 
served in the Western Reserve Historical Society annals can be found 
this entry: “I began my journey Monday, May ninth 1796—Fare from 
Suffield to Hartford six shillings—expenses four shillings six pence— 
Fare on my chest from Middleton one shilling sixpence—Trip to New 
York—Passage and liquor 4 dollars and 34—In New York—Ticket for 
play 75 cents liquor 14 cents—show of elephants 50 cents—Shaving and 
combing 13 cents.” Seth wanted to be prepared, in case he was asked 
the question that was commonly propounded to one, who had been to 
New York: “Did you see the elephants?” 

The history of Cleveland begins with the surveying party, but the 
story behind the survey is extremely interesting. No attempt was made 
to settle here until the passage of the ordinance of 1787 and the beginning 
of government under the territorial system. Then, as one expresses it, 
toilers on the rocky farms of Connecticut sighed for the mellow soil of 
Ohio, and the sale began. Oliver Phelps, a native of Windsor, led the 
enterprise, opening an office at Canandaigua, the first in the country for 
the sale of forest lands to settlers. At this town the surveyors gathered 
for the trip to New Connecticut under Moses Cleveland, of Canterbury, 
“magnetic, able, decisive, and patriotic.” Connecticut had been especially 
favored by King Charles, who was incensed at Massachusetts, and this 
was not the first attempt of the state at similar occupancy. The sad his¬ 
tory of Wyoming was known to the hardy pioneers, who bought of the 
Connecticut Land Company. By a grant from King Charles the state 
was given a tract, about the size of the Western Reserve, of land later 
claimed and acquired by Pennsylvania. In the beautiful Wyoming Val¬ 
ley traversed by the north branch of the Susquehanna there had been 
planted a colony under the Connecticut town system of individual 
democracy. 


“On Susquehanna’s side, fair Wyoming! 

Although the wild-flower on thy ruined wall, 

And roofless homes, a sad remembrance bring 
Of what thy gentle people did befall; 

Yet thou wert once the loveliest land of all.” 

After getting the charter rights, the Susquehanna Land Company was 
formed just as the Connecticut Land Company was organized in the pur¬ 
chase of the Western Reserve. Wyoming was bought from the Five 
Nations for £2,000 by the Susquehanna Company, and settlers bought 
their land from this company. Here flourished" a happy community 
immortalized in song by Thomas Campbell in “Gertrude of Wyoming,” 
from which the above fragment is taken. The Revolution came and then 
the massacre, designated by historians as one of the darkest crimes per¬ 
petrated during the War for Independence. As history records, the 
Tories under John Butler, and the Indians under Brandt fell upon these 
Wyoming settlements, while the able bodied men of militarv age were at 
the front under Washington. Half the population were killed, the old 
men and boys covering the flight of the women and small children who 
had to endure the hardships of an overland retreat to Connecticut. After 
peace was declared, scattering settlers returned to keep alive their claims 
to land purchased. Then came the Articles of Confederation empowering 
the establishing of courts to arbitrate disputed boundaries between states. 
Connecticut clung to her grant from the King, but kings were in disfavor 
after the Revolution, and the court gave Wyoming to Pennsylvania. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


301 


Connecticut gracefully accepted the decree and withdrew her claim. The 
settlers, thus seemingly deserted by their state, had a hard time of it. 
Writs of the Pennsylvania courts were enforced, the property of Con¬ 
necticut men destroyed, fences were cast down, and the rights or claims 
of the settlers ignored. The old Susquehanna Company, that had sold 
them the land, was reorganized to aid them in enforcing their claims. 



The Oldest House in the City 
This building, built upon the site of the log trading post of John Jacob 
Astor, was removed by the city to a site at the eastern end of Edgewater 
Park, to be preserved as a relic of the past. On October 14, 1922, a few 
hours after the above picture was taken, the old building was destroyed 
by official order. 

Ethan Allen and some of his Green Mountain Boys settled here after the 
war. The settlers became strong, and there raged what was called the 
Yankee and Pennamite war. Then the State of Pennsylvania passed laws 
confirming the Connecticut settlers in their titles, and the war ended. 

Connecticut having so gracefully surrendered her claim to Wyoming, 
that is the State of Connecticut, when her grant westward, which is de¬ 
scribed in the charter from King Charles as extended to the Pacific Ocean, 
was taken up, it was decided to give her the tract known as the Western 
Reserve. Thus in releasing her claim to the great western belt she was 























302 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


given this territory, as was asserted, to recompense her for the loss of 
Wyoming. As one writer claims, “It would have been absurd to ask 
Connecticut to surrender a claim so sound in law and so fortified by re¬ 
peated recognitions without any recompense. Her proposition that she 
should reserve a tract about the width and length of the Wyoming tract 
was accepted.” 

In this manner is the sad history of Wyoming linked with that of 
Cleveland and the Western Reserve, and the fact that the settlers who 
came here were familiar with its history adds to our estimate of their 
courage and indominative will. When the first emigrants left their 
native Connecticut for the far West the parting words of friends were 
spoken as if they were the last, and they were tenderly remembered in 
the public prayers of the village minister. 

The township of Cleveland was organized before that of any other 
in the county, before the state was organized and before the county was 
organized. A territorial court of quarter sessions met at Warren, Ohio, 
in the early part of the year 1802 and erected the Township of Cleveland. 
The meeting of this court was held in a sheltered locality between two 
corn cribs, a few feet from the site of a house afterwards occupied by 
F. Freeman of Warren. Acting under an order from this court the in¬ 
habitants of the township met at the house of James Kingsbury on April 
5, 1802, and organized by choosing Rudolphus Edwards as chairman and 
Nathaniel Doan as clerk, and elected township officers. The names of 
some of the officers have been preserved. The trustees elected at this 
meeting were Amos Spafford, Timothy Doan and W. W. Williams. 
Samuel Huntington was elected one of the supervisors of highways, he 
was afterwards supreme judge and then governor of Ohio. Timothy 
Doan was Common Pleas judge, as we have related. Thus this first 
township seems to have been well officered. The election the following 
year was held at the same place, the house of James Kingsbury, and these 
were the officers who presided over the town meeting: Amos Spafford, 
chairman, and Nathaniel Doan, clerk. The officers elected were Amos 
Spafford, James Kingsbury and Timothy Doan, trustees; James Kings¬ 
bury and James Hamilton, overseers of the poor; Rudolphus Edwards 
Ezekiel Nolley and Amos Spafford, fence viewers; Elijah Gunn and 
Samuel Huntington, appraisers of houses; James Kingsbury, lister; Wil¬ 
liam Elvin, James Kingsbury and Timothy Doan, supervisors of highways 
and Rudolphus Edwards, constable. Two months later the electors met at 
the same place, and an election for justices of the peace, presided over by 
Samuel Jones, was held. Amos Spafford and Timothy Doan received the 
honor and were duly elected justices of the peace. In this year the state 
was organized and at this justice election, that is on the same day, another 
election was held. This was more formal and in accordance with the strict 
letter of the law Amos Spafford, Elijah Gunn and Samuel Jones were 
chosen judges of election, and Stephen Gilbert and Nathaniel Doan, 
clerks, this election was for the choice of one state senator two state 
representatives and one member of Congress, the Township of Cleveland 
voting as a part of Trumbull County. 

r> Congress, David Hudson received twenty-seven votes, and Michael 
Baldwin six. For the State Senate, Benjamin Tappan received twenty-one 
votes, and Amos Spafford, one. For State Representatives, David Abbott 
received twenty-two votes; Ephraim Quimby, nineteen; Amos Spafford 
one, and David Hudson, one. The representatives elected to this first 
legislative session of Ohio by a vote of twenty-six to three refused to 
employ a chaplain, eight new counties were erected, and John Smith and 
Thomas Worthington were chosen United States Senators. Edward 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


303 


Tiffin was declared elected governor, receiving 4,564 votes. The election 
in Cleveland Township the following year was held as before at the house 
of James Kingsbury. The date was April 22d. The Judges of election 
were Amos Spafford and Lorenzo Carter. James Kingsbury, Lorenzo 
Carter and Timothy Doan were elected trustees; Lorenzo Carter, Thad- 
deus Lacy, James Kingsbury and Timothy Doan, supervisors of highways; 
Rudolphus Edwards, constable; Nathaniel Doan, clerk, and Timothy Doan, 
treasurer. This latter office became necessary, as it was voted at the meet¬ 
ing to raise $10 by township tax. The trustees met at the house of 
Nathaniel Doan and divided the township into road districts. To Lorenzo 
Carter was given the road leading from the “City of Cleveland ,, to Hud¬ 
son ; Daniel Rukers was given the road from the south side of Cleveland, 
to Euclid to the bridge near Isaac Tillotson’s; Timothy Doan was given 
the road from Isaac Tillotson’s to the east line of the town of Euclid; 
James Kingsbury was given the road from Nathaniel Doan’s to Wilson’s 
Mills, and to Thaddeus Lacy was given the road leading from Daniel 
Purker’s to Hudson. 

We have been giving the early organization of number 8, range 12, 
the township which included a “city.” The separate history of this city 
began September 16, 1796, when Augustus Porter began laying out some 
streets on the east side of the Cuyahoga River. Porter ran the street 
lines; Seth Pease, Amos Spafford and Richard Stoddard surveyed the 
city lots. In the same month and year it was named. Previously it had 
been called Cuyahoga or spoken of in the minutes of the surveyors as 
mouth of the Cuyahoga. The first mention on record of the name occurs 
in the minutes of the agreement entered into by Moses Cleveland and his 
surveyors as to the Township of Euclid. The minutes state “at a meet¬ 
ing held at the City of Cleveland,” etc. The “city” contained at this time 
two log houses, one occupied by Job Stiles and Tabitha, his wife, who 
kept house for members of the surveying party from time to time. It 
was sometimes called Pease’s Tavern, because of the frequent presence 
and attractive personality of that gentleman. The other was used by the 
surveyors. The surveyors left in October for the East, leaving Mr. and 
Mrs. Job Stiles and Jacob Landon. The three had decided to become 
permanent settlers, although coming originally as employees of the Con¬ 
necticut Land Company. The surveyors built a log cabin for them at 
what is now the west end of Superior Avenue. Landon only stayed a 
few weeks, and went East before winter came, but Edward Paine, after¬ 
wards the founder of Painesville, came and boarded with Mr. and Mrs. 
Stiles and commenced trading with the Indians, who camped on their 
lands west of the river. These three remained alone, except for Indians, 
during the winter. Job Stiles and Tabitha Stiles were the first settlers 
of Cleveland, and Edward Paine the first trader. On the edge of the 
Indian country in the winter of 1795 these three constituted the entire 
population of Cleveland. The part of the Western Reserve east of the 
Cuyahoga River was cleared of the Indian claim by the treaty of Green¬ 
ville in 1795, and that west of the river by the treaty of Fort Industry in 
1805 ten years later. Cleveland, with its population of three souls, was 
in the County of Washington of the Northwest Territory, but it was 
thought by some that the Connecticut Land Company was invested with 
the powers of government as well as title of land. This township was 
one of those sold to provide the expenses of the survey. 

Mrs Job Stiles, the first woman resident of Cleveland, in the log 
cabin on the bank of the Cuyahoga on that first winter, was deserving of 
recognition, and she got it. The directors and stockholders of the Con¬ 
necticut Land Company gave her one city lot, one ten-acre lot, and one 


304 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


100-acre lot in Cleveland Township. They also gave 100 acres to Mrs. 
Anna Gun, wife of Elijah Gun, who had charge of the company’s stores 
at Conneaut, but intended to move to Cleveland. They gave 100 acres 
of land in the township to James Kingsbury and wife, the first settlers on 
the Western Reserve not connected with the company. Kingsbury and 
wife first located at Conneaut. They gave a city lot to Nathaniel Doan, 
who had acted as blacksmith for the company, shoeing the pack horses of 
the surveyors. 

In the spring of 1797 Edward Paine, who had spent the winter trading 
with the Indians, having beads, calico, and other articles for barter, left 
Cleveland and his boarding place with Job and Tabitha Stiles and made 
his permanent residence at Painesville, which town he founded and which 
bears his name. In the spring of this year the Guns came from Conneaut 
and became the second family resident of Cleveland. In June the sur¬ 
veyors returned, and this time Seth Pease was head surveyor. On the 
way to Cleveland one of their number, David Eldridge, was drowned in 
Grand River, and they brought the body with them to Cleveland for burial. 
The burial was on the east side of Ontario Street, some distance from the 
Stiles cabin and therefore out of town. The surveyors, before starting 
in with their second year’s professional labors, did some clearing around 
the cabin of Job and Tabitha Stiles at the west end of Superior Street as 
we now designate the site. They planted a garden and flowers and 
brought a bustle of life and activity. 

This year came Lorenzo Carter, known to early settlers as Major 
Carter, and brought his family from Rutland, Vermont. His son Alonzo 
was then seven years old. He was a remarkable man, a tvpical pioneer. 
He had great strength, was a master with the gun and the axe, had unlim¬ 
ited assurance and the courage of a Richard C'oeur de Leon. He soon 
gained a wonderful influence over the Indians unequalled by any other 
white man in the vicinity. He was the Miles Standish of Cleveland. He 
even impressed the Indians as one having supernatural power. While 
Moses Cleveland could plan a civilization, it required men like Lorenzo 
Carter to build it. The writer, gazing at the massive monument to Miles 
Standish on the Atlantic coast near Plymouth, was impressed with the 
idea that a monument to Lorenzo Carter by the side of that of Moses 
Cleveland here would be most appropriate. The founder and the builder 
side by side in this great city of wealth of brain and brawn would be a 
beautiful historical setting. Lorenzo Carter built his log cabin on the 
flats near the river, close by a thoroughfare afterwards known as Spring 
Street. F s 


The next family of settlers was that of Ezekiel Hawley. The daugh¬ 
ter Fanny, was then five years of age. In 1879 she was Mrs. Theodore 
Miles, and was living in the eighteenth ward, the oldest survivor of the 
residents east of the river. James Kingsbury and family came next. They 
first “squatted” on the Indian country west of the river, living in a log 
building that had been occupied by the agents of the Northwestern Fur 
Trading Company. While living there Kingsbury built his log cabin in 
Cleveland on the site now occupied by the Federal Building, on the pub¬ 
lic square and moved his family in. The raising of this building, like all 
in the early days, was an event, and as the settlers were so few the sur¬ 
veyors were invited. This home was not established on the 100 acres given 
to the family by the Connecticut Land Company, but on a city lot secured 
by Kingsbury. y 

The first wedding in Cleveland and in Cuyahoga County took place in 
this year of 1797 when William Clements was married to Chloe Inches 
Miss Inches was a hired girl and was not ashamed of the fact Clements 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


305 


took his bride away, and the settlement of Cleveland was reduced by one. 
In the fall of this year the surveyors completed the survey. In the spring 
of the next year Nathaniel Doan moved his family into a cabin built on 
his city lot given him by the Connecticut Company. He opened a black¬ 
smith shop on the south side of Superior, near where the Cleveland Hotel 
now stands, but he did not stay long. The privations of pioneer life were 
augmented by fever and ague that was no respecter of persons. The 
Kingsbury and Stiles families had moved out on the Ridge to avoid it, 
then the Guns moved. Rudolphus Edwards came from Chenango 
County, New York, and sought the healthier locality. He engaged in the 
manufacture of wood thills. In the “city” the only families left were 
the Doans, Carters, and Hawleys. Then Joseph Landon came back, and 
with him came Stephen Gilbert. They cleared some land and sowed 
wheat. Carter planted two acres of corn on Water Street, near the lake. 
All the men and women of Cleveland, that is the city, not the township, 
were sick with the fever and ague. Between chills Carter and his hounds 
would go out and get a deer and thus provide food for the families. 
Nathaniel Doan’s family of nine were all sick. Seth, a boy of thirteen, 
was the only one who could get around, but he had shakes every day. 
He cut wood, got water, and went out to Kingsbury’s for corn. The 
people on the Ridge had found health, but in Cleveland there was no doctor 
and no quinine. The people used dogwood bark as a substitute for quinine. 
About the middle of November four men, weak from ague, started in a 
boat for Walnut Creek, Pennsylvania, for flour. Between Euclid Creek 
and the Chagrin River the boat was wrecked and they returned empty 
handed. Throughout the winter of 1798 all in the “city” and at the 
Ridge depended on Mr. Kingsbury’s hand gristmill, which as was said, 
ground flour coarse enough to satisfy Graham himself. 

The next spring of 1799 Nathaniel Doan abandoned his city lot and 
moved out four miles to the place afterwards designated as Doan’s Cor¬ 
ners. The Hawley family also left the sickly place at the mouth of the 
Cuyahoga River for the Kingsbury neighborhood. These were still in the 
township but the “city” had only two families left, the Carters and Spaf- 
fords. Carter stuck and Spafford stuck because he did. Carter said you 
must fight disease like anything else and he proposed to stay until he be¬ 
came acclimated. Carter and Spafford kept a sort of tavern and traded 
with the Indians. Their principal articles of barter were salt and whiskey. 
In this year of 1799 the gristmill was built at Newburgh and soon the 
families were provided with good wholesome flour and a better era was at 
hand. One of the millstones from that mill, the first turned on the West¬ 
ern Reserve, rests opposite the Old Stone Church on the Public Square at 
Cleveland and the other is on Broadway near the site of the first mill. 

We have spoken of the building of the mill in the chapter on Newburgh. 
Its stones turned before the beginning of the nineteenth century brought a 
blessing to the pioneers, whose value it is hard to measure. 

In 1797, while the “city” existed only in the far seeing vision of a few, 
Surveyor Warren began the survey of three highways leading out into the 
country. A survey of the town had been made and the city streets only 
extended to the city limits or westward to the river and eastward about a 
quarter of a mile east of the present East Ninth Street. He first began at 
the eastern end of Huron Street, which was in its present locality, and ran 
the lines due east. This was to be a road, not a city street, and being outside 
of the city limits it was called Central Highway. As it soon became the 
main highway from Cleveland to Euclid it was called Euclid Road. Then 
it was extended west to the Public Square and it became Euclid Street. 
Finally lined with palatial residences it took on the name of Euclid Avenue, 


306 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


and while so named was pronounced by Bayard Taylor, the famous trav¬ 
eler, the finest street in the world. Now commercial Cleveland is taking 
over the avenue and it is fast becoming a great business street. But we 
are getting ahead in our history as the present chapter has to do with 
Cleveland Township. Warren laid out other roads, among them North 
Highway, which became St. Clair Avenue. The original city surveyed in 
the northeast corner of range 12, number 8. Cleveland Township, had 
no Euclid Street. Huron was laid out and its eastern terminus at the 
Hanna Building was the eastern limits of the surveyed city. 

A Christmas incident of Cleveland in 1799 appears in the early annals. 
The scene is laid out on the Ridge, but just the same Lorenzo Carter was as 
usual the hero. Mr. Kingsbury’s eldest daughter Abigail, seven years old, 
and two younger brothers, Amos and Almon, together with Fanny Haw¬ 
ley, afterwards Mrs. Miles, and her younger brothers all went to visit the 
children of Job Stiles, who lived only half a mile or less away. The dis¬ 
tance was not far and there was a woods road or path along the Ridge. 
Childlike, they stayed late and it became dusk before getting home and 
they lost their way. They wandered as lost children will. The older ones 
carried the smaller ones as they became tired and then they gave up, as the 
little ones went to sleep in their arms. What could they do? They laid 
the sleepers on the ground and covered them with Abigail’s cloak. Two 
alternatives seemed to be facing them, either they would be eaten by the 
wolves or frozen to death. In the meantime the parents began a wild 
search but fruitless for a while. As luck would have it, Lorenzo Carter, 
who had been out hunting, happened along and with him his faithful 
hound. He set out and came near enough to the Seth Stiles house to find 
the trail of the lost children. The dog had some trouble at first but soon 
led him to the sleeping children. A wild scream greeted his coming in 
advance of Carter. The waking children thought a wolf had come for a 
meal but Carter came up at once, silenced their fears, and fired his gun in 
the air to notify the searchers. 

In 1800 Cleveland Township had a population of about sixty souls 
while the “city” part had only twenty, one-third of the total population. 
We have in the story of this year to record the establishment of the first 
manufacturing plant in Cleveland. David Bryant and his son Gilman 
brought a still from Virginia and built a log distillery on the flats. They 
carried water in a trough from the hillside into the second story of their 
quite pretentious plant. At this time this new enterprise was hailed with 
delight. The first business enterprise of Cleveland was a respectable busi¬ 
ness. The settlers were increasing their acreage of grain and the product 
of the field could be reduced to a small compass and marketed without its 
costing its entire worth for transportation. This new industry soon 
attracted the Indians from their country the other side of the river. They 
had a ferry opposite St. Clair Street and kept canoes there for crossing and 
re-crossing. After getting a supply of fire water they would congregate 
at a point where Detroit Street now meets West Twenty-fifth Street. 
Here they would hold many of their pow wows. The settlers on the east 
side could hear them in their ball games at which they were expert. It is 
quite likely that baseball and football are aboriginal games. Oratory, too, 
was heard, not soap box oratory, for the dusky denizens of the forest did 
not include soap in their family supplies. They would recount the deeds 
of their fathers ere the white man came to grasp their land. Gilman Bryant 
was invited to one of their feasts over there. He said all Indians consid¬ 
ered white dogs sacred. Among the six nations white dogs were offered 
as sacrifices to the Great Spirit, the God Manitou. Demoralized by the 
white man’s whiskey they compromised in this religious rite. Gilman 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


307 


Bryant says they placed a large bowl of the stew on a scaffold as a sacri¬ 
fice to Manitou and ate the rest, applying it to wordly uses, so to speak. 
They offered young Bryant a dish of the stew containing a forepaw to 
which much of the hair remained, which he declined, whereupon they ate 
it themselves, saying a good soldier could easily eat that. 

In this year of 1800 Samuel Huntington came to Cleveland. He was 
thirty-five years of age and was a nephew of the governor of Connecticut 
of the same name. He built a large house on the south side of Superior 
Street near the top of the bluff. It was constructed of hewn logs and was 
the most aristocratic residence in the town. We have already related how 
he participated in the township government, then was chosen to the state 
senate, supreme judge, and then governor of the state. Besides building 
his fine log mansion he hired Samuel Dodge to build for him the first 
frame building in the town, a barn. Another settler who came this year 
was Elisha Norton. He was a trader and not so much a wielder of the 
ax and battler with the forest. 

The first school, the beginning of the educational system in Cleveland, 
was opened in the house of Lorenzo Carter by Ann Spafford in 1802. She 
had about a dozen scholars (not pupils) and the three R’s included the 
course of study. 

Just across the river from the Indian country the small settlement had 
little trouble with the red man. The influence of Lorenzo Carter had 
much to do with this. He spoke the Indian language fluently and his tact 
and courage gave him a remarkable influence over them. Each fall they 
would come to the mouth of the river, haul their canoes ashore, and sepa¬ 
rating into small parties would hunt and trap up the river. In the spring 
they would return and hold a sort of reunion in which feasting and drunk¬ 
enness was a prominent feature. These occasions were similar in the fall 
and spring. The summers found them returned to their cornfields on the 
Sandusky and Maumee rivers. In the winter of 1800 Gilman Bryant 
and his father cleared five acres of land on the bank of the river above the 
city plat. In the spring Timothy Doan and his brother Nathaniel came 
to Cleveland but their stay was short as they went to Euclid in the fall. 

In these early years Cleveland was not devoid of many tragic incidents 
connected with the inhabiting of the forest city. Governor Huntington 
to be, returning from a trip to Painesville on horseback was attacked by a 
pack of wolves. His good horse kept out of their reach until entering a 
muddy swayle in the road where Euclid and East Fifty-fifth Street cross 
at the Pennsylvania Railway station. There they closed in and Mr. Hunt¬ 
ington fought them off with his only weapon, an umbrella, until firmer 
ground was reached and the horse distanced his pursuers. 

In the year of 1802 Carter and Spafford, who had continued to enter¬ 
tain strangers, were regularly licensed as tavern keepers by the Court of 
Quarter Sessions. The following year Ohio was admitted into the Union 
as a state and Samuel Huntington was speaker of the first House of Repre¬ 
sentatives. Even when a judge of the Supreme Court he kept his resi¬ 
dence in Cleveland, making the journeys to the various sessions of the 
court at Chillicothe on horseback. In 1803 Lorenzo Carter built the first 
frame house in Cleveland near the foot of Superior Street. It was just 
completed when a fire which started in a pile of shavings destroyed it. 
Carter immediately rebuilt but with hewn logs instead. This was seven 
years after the first settlement and it was seven or eight years more before 
Cleveland had a frame house. The settlement of this section was slow, 
about one family a year was the increase. Oliver Culver, one of the sur¬ 
veyors, came as a trader. He brought salt, calico, tobacco and whiskey to 
trade with the Indians, but his venture did not pay. The freight from 





Columbus Street Bridge 







THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


309 


Buffalo was $3 a barrel. As soon as Ohio became a state, militia com¬ 
panies were organized for the defense of the commonwealth. A militia 
company was organized in Cleveland with Lorenzo Carter as captain, 
Nathaniel Doan as lieutenant and Samuel Jones as ensign. The same 
season Carter was chosen major of the second battalion of the First Regi¬ 
ment, Second Brigade and Fourth Division, and Doan and Jones became 
captain and lieutenant, respectively. In 1805 came the purchase of the 
land west of the river from the Indians. . Previous to this time the town of 
Cleveland seemed to be falling back. The activities of this section centered 
about the gristmill in Newburgh. Samuel Dodge, who married a daughter 
of Timothy Doan, built a log house away from the river bank with its 
springs, and has the distinction of having dug the first well in Cleveland. 



The Academy Building 


It was walled up with stones which the Indians had used for fireplaces 
in their wigwams. Cuyahoga County was erected in 1810 with Cleveland 
as its county seat and Cleveland Township as one of its townships. Cleve¬ 
land was regarded as a city long before it had an organization as such, for 
on February 15, 1802, a plat of the City of Cleveland was filed in Record 
A, page ten of the Trumbull County records. A record plat was filed 
later, after the dream became a reality, in Record number two of the 
records on file in the office of the County Recorder of Cuyahoga County. 
In 1812 the first courthouse was built in Cleveland. It was built of logs 
and stood on the Public Square. The hanging of Omic, the Indian, for 
the murder of two white trappers near Sandusky, Ohio, occurred that year, 
but before the building of the courthouse. This first execution in the 
county has been frequently mentioned in local histories, but an incident 
connected with the early life of the culprit in which Major Carter took a 
hand has not been so often told. 

After the sale of the lands west of the river by the Indians many of 
them lived more or less of the time on the old ground and had cabins like 






310 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


the whites. Among these was an Indian by the name of Omic, who had a 
son called Omic. The whites called the son John Omic to distinguish him 
from his father. John Omic was from boyhood of an evil disposition and 
generally bad. It was in 1805 when he was sixteen years old that he 
crossed the river and began stealing vegetables from Major Carter’s gar¬ 
den. Mrs. Carter ordered him away when he drew a knife and chased her 
and did not stop until a young man of the neighborhood happened along 
and drove him away. If his only intention was to scare her he succeeded. 
When Major Carter came home and heard of the incident he was furious. 
He put a rope in his pocket and started for old Omic’s cabin on the other 
side of the river. He told old Omic what his son had done and declared 
he was determined to hunt up the young man and hang him and exhibited 
the rope as evidence of his intention. Carter spoke the Indian language 
fluently. He was known as a fighting man among the whites and had a 
great influence over the Indians. Old Omic was terribly frightened, he 
begged the major not to hang his boy and pleaded as best he could. Carter, 
who had a kind and tender heart under a rough exterior, finally agreed to 
spare the boy on condition that he stay on the west side of the river. “Now 
remember,” said Carter, “if I ever catch him on that side of the river, I’ll 
hang him to the nearest tree.” “He no come, he no come,” was the old 
Indian’s reply in English. It is recorded in the early annals that the young 
rascal kept his side of the stream and did not cross it until several years 
after when he was on his way to his trial and execution. 

In a former chapter we have related the tragic death of a settler, 
his wife and child on the rocky shore of the lake during a storm and of the 
rescue of the colored man Ben on a rocky cliff of the shore just east of 
Rocky River after clinging there from Friday until the following Tuesday. 
Some French traders rescued Ben from his dangerous perch on the rock 
and took him to Major Carter’s tavern, which always was open to the 
unfortunate. Rheumatism drew Ben’s limbs out of shape following his 
terrible experience and he was unable to work but the kind hearted major 
kept him all summer. In October two Kentuckians came to Carter’s 
tavern and claimed Ben as a runaway slave. The major told them how he 
had boarded Ben for nothing because of his misfortune and his answer 
to the slave hunters was this: “I don’t like niggers but I don’t believe in 
slavery and Ben shall not be taken away unless he wants to go.” The 
owner declared he had always treated Ben well and asserted that he had 
been coaxed to run away and would probably be willing to go back and 
he desired to talk with him. The major who at that period was practically 
the law in Cleveland would not permit that unless Ben was willing. Ben 
agreed to a conference and a parley was agreed upon but to avoid treachery 
Carter arranged to have Ben on one side of the river and the slave hunters 
on the other and this programme was carried out. They talked across the 
stream. Ben after much discussion finally agreed to go, many interesting 
inducements were held out. It is not in evidence that Carter had anything 
to do with the final denouement, but when the party had started for the 
South, the negro Ben riding a horse and his master walking by his side, 
the two slave hunters having their pistols in the holster, two hunters, not 
slave hunters, stepped out of the woods and with their guns presented said: 

“Ben, you d- fool you, jump off and run,” which order was complied 

with. The owner and his aid gave up the search and never came back 
for the slave. It is asserted that Ben did not go to Canada but some years 
later was living in a cabin near the line of Brecksville and Independence. 
This was the first slave rescue but not the last in the history of this new 
country. 

It has been said that Cleveland was a tough place at this stage of its 



THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


311 


history but as we cite instances of Major Carter’s unusual code of ethics 
we see only a rough exterior. We will give one of many by way of illus¬ 
tration. To a great extent his personality was reflected in the community. 
On a morning of 1807 a man, who had been working for the major sud¬ 
denly disappeared. He had taken nothing but his own and the major owed 
him. Spafford, a brother-in-law of Carter’s, informed him that the man 
had gone. Carter said no one should run away from Cleveland and shoul¬ 
dered his rifle and started in pursuit. He overtook the man at what is 
now Fifty-fifth Street. The man said he had stolen nothing and owed 
nothing. Carter ordered him to return in language that coming from him 
was extremely terrifying. “Go back,” said he, “or I will kill you and 
throw you to the wolves.” The man sullenly obeyed and Carter led him 



Levi Johnson 

back to town. On returning he told Spafford that he was a rover and 
after working for a while in a place got a travel bee in his bonnet and must 
move on. “Well have some breakfast and we will pay you what we owe 
you and then you can go.” After a good breakfast the man declared he 
had decided to stay and he did. 

This was a rather rough civilization in the main this “city” of Cleveland 
in those days but it was honest if not God fearing. Preachers who came 
complained of the rough talk, of the infidelity, of the wickedness of the 
inhabitants, their profanity. They killed hogs on Sunday, etc., but crime 
of every kind was rare. It was a border town without the border ruffian. 
Daniel Parker attempted to organize a new religious sect called the Halcy- 
onites here but it faded notwithstanding its attractive name. During the 
War of 1812 there was little civic progress. Irad and J. R. Kelly built a 
brick store in 1814. This was the first brick building in the town. When 
this was built there were thirty-four buildings of all kinds in Cleveland. 
A rather unique start in the shipbuilding industry was made by Levi John¬ 
son, who built the schooner Pilot. For convenience in getting timber he 
built it in the woods. The extremely dry dock was a little way out Euclid 



312 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Avenue. When it was finished he made a bee and farmers came from all 
around with twenty-eight yoke of oxen and it was hauled and launched 
in the river at the foot of Superior Street. Thus began an industry that 
developed rapidly and in later years grew to enormous proportions. 

A big jollification when peace was declared was the last and greatest 
event in the history of Cleveland as a township before it was broken into 
by the forming of the Village of Cleveland. The ending of the War of 
1812 was an event that gave security to the settlers in their titles to 
land, a respite from anxiety as to the raids of hostile Indians and con¬ 
sequent danger to the family and home. This celebration was a most 
enthusiastic one and not equalled perhaps by any in later years except in 
point of numbers. Whiskey was free, a government cannon was used to 
make the noise, and everybody participated. Abram Hickox, the town 
blacksmith, was much in evidence and carried the powder in a pail. In 
the wild excitement a spark found its way to the somewhat diminished 
pail of powder and an explosion not on the programme occurred. Abram 
blackened and torn declared he was killed but he lived to continue the 
“Village Smithy” for many years. 


CHAPTER XXV 

THE VILLAGE OF CLEVELAND 

On December 23, 1815, the Legislature passed an act incorporating 
the Village of Cleveland, and on the first Monday of June in the follow¬ 
ing year the first village election was held. At this election there were 
twelve votes cast. Alfred Kelly was elected president, as the chief officer 
of the village was then called; Horace Perry, recorder; Alonzo Carter, 
treasurer; John A. Ackley, marshal; George Wallace and John Riddle, 
constables; Samuel Williamson, David Long and Nathan Perry, Jr., trus¬ 
tees. We are now entering upon an era that brings to our notice pioneers 
of a different variety than those who felled the forest and brought it into 
productive beauty. We are to discuss to some extent the pioneers of indus¬ 
try, but before we do that it seems appropriate to pay a deserved tribute 
to one who represented the first class and who died just before the village 
was organized and was buried in the Erie Street (East Ninth Street) 
Cemetery, Lorenzo Carter. We have suggested that it would be appropri¬ 
ate to erect a monument to him as an ideal type of the Western Reserve 
pioneer and place it beside that of Moses Cleveland, one the architect and 
the other the builder. Lorenzo Carter was identified with the township 
alone, his son, Alonzo, being one of the first officers of the village. Harvey 
Rice in his biography of Lorenzo Carter says of him: “It is not so much 
what a man thinks or believes as what he does that gives him character. 
It was physical strength and a fearless spirit that distinguished the brave 
and the bold in the heroic age of the Greeks. It was these traits of char¬ 
acter that gave Lorenzo Carter his renown as a valiant pioneer in the 
early settlement of the Western Reserve.” The pen picture by Mr. Rice 
could be duplicated in marble or bronze. “The Indians found in 
him an overmatch as a marksman and a superior in physical strength. 
He had the muscular power of a giant and not only knew his strength, 
but knew when and how to use it. He stood six feet in his boots, and 
was evidently born to command. His complexion was somewhat swarthy 
and his hair long and black. He wore it cut square on the forehead and 
allowed it to flow behind nearly to the shoulders. He had a Roman nose 
and the courage of a Roman. Yet he was as amiable in spirit and temper 
as he was brave. He dressed to suit himself and as occasion required. 
In times of danger he always found in his rifle a reliable friend. He not 
only enjoyed life in the wilderness, but soon became master of the 
situation. He loved adventure and encountered dangers without fear.” 
Mr. Rice relates an incident that was not given in the previous chapter, 
when Mr. Carter returning from a hunting trip found that a band of 
Indians had broken into his warehouse of logs, knocked in the head of a 
barrel of whiskey and drank so much as to become drunk and dangerously 
belligerent. Carter marched in among them, drove them out, kicked and 
cuffed them about in every direction and rolled several of them who were 
too drunk to keep their feet into the marshy brink of the river. The next 
day the Indians held a council and decided to do away with Carter. They 
selected two of their best marksmen and directed them to follow his foot¬ 
prints the next time he went into the woods to hunt and to shoot him at 

313 


314 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


the first favorable opportunity. The two selected trailed Carter on his 
next hunt with Indian cunning and at a favorable opportunity to make 
sure work both fired at once, but missed. Carter turned on his heel and 
fired. One Indian fell dead in his tracks, the other with a terrific whoop 
ran into the woods out of sight. This event overawed the Indians and no 
further attempts were made on Carter’s life. His rifle became the law of 
the land. The Indians became convinced that he was the favorite of the 
Great Spirit and could not be killed. While Carter had thus obtained such 



Alfred Kelley 


an influence over the Indians, he thus became the protector of the settlers 
on the border. John Omic, who was hung for murder, was kept a prisoner 
in Carter’s tavern previously to his trial and execution without fear of a 
raid from the Indians. Carter always treated the Indians when they be¬ 
haved as they should with kindness and generosity, and was a peacemaker 
and arbiter in quarrels among themselves. The story of the hanging 
of Omic, the first execution in the county, is necessarily a part of every 
local ^f St j- ry ’ k Ut itS re P etition occurs because of its great significance 
Many Indians were present. It was an illustration to them of the majesty 
of the white man’s law, inexorable but based upon sober judgment. It 
was an object lesson not long to be forgotten that the safety of the com¬ 
munity depends upon the punishment of crime, that life must not be 
taken with impunity, but that the sober judgment of the law and not the 
idea of vengeance must rule. Omic had killed in cold blood two white 





THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


315 


men near Sandusky. The testimony was undisputed, he was convicted 
and sentenced. Carter, in whose custody he had remained from the time 
of his arrest, and who, as we have said, spoke the Indian language fluently, 
impressed upon the Indian the fact that the white man’s law must be 
carried out and counselled Omic to die like a man. The time of the 
execution arrived. A gallows had been erected on the Public Square 
ready for the execution, which was fixed at June 26, 1812. When that day 
arrived a one-horse wagon appeared at the door of Major Carter’s cabin. 
On it was a rough coffin made of boards unplaned, ready to receive the 
convict, but first to provide a seat for him on his way to the scaffold. 
Omic, or O’Mic as the name is more frequently written in the early 
annals, had many times after his conviction boasted to Major Carter that 
he would show the white men how bravely an Indian could die. He 
said they need not tie his hands, but simply adjust the rope and he 
would jump from the scaffold and hang himself. He decorated himself 
with paint and war plumes and when taken out of Major Carter’s garret 
sprang lightly into the wagon and seated himself on his coffin with the 
stolid indifference of his race. When he arrived at the scaffold he was 
taken by Sheriff Baldwin and assisted by Major Carter compelled to 
ascend to the scaffold. It may be added that the drive from Major Carter’s 
had been made under a military escort that marched to the music of the 
fife and muffled drums to the Public Square, where a large crowd had 
collected. On the scaffold the murderer lost his courage and was no 
longer the brave warrior. A prayer had been offered, the rope adjusted 
and the trap ready to be sprung when the prisoner seized a side post of 
the gallows and held on with a death grip. Carter reminded him of his 
professed bravery and the prisoner finally agreed to let the law take its 
course on condition that he be given a quart of whiskey. This concession 
was agreed to, but the prisoner after drinking the potion again played the 
same trick and again compromised on the second quart of whiskey. Before 
he had completed the drinking of the second the trap was sprung and the 
prisoner fell, breaking the rope and his neck at the same time. Before 
this time the Indians gathered about exhibited great emotion, and it is said 
that on account of the storm which was just beginning, but which burst 
into fury just as the trap was sprung, the flint locks of the guards were so 
moist that their guns would have been useless had the Indians attempted a 
rescue. The remains of Omic were immediately buried under the scaffold, 
but were not there the following morning, which gave rise to many con¬ 
jectures until it was found that they were in the possession of Doctor 
Long, Cleveland’s first physician, who used it for clinical purposes. As 
a final sequel to the incident of this first execution it is related that Captain 
Sholes, a patient of Doctor Long, became panic stricken at a sight of 
Omic’s skeleton in Doctor Long’s pioneer hospital. This is referred to as 
the last appearance of the terrible O’Mic. 

The use of the Carter Tavern as a jail did not spoil it as a place of 
general social activity, for the name of Lorenzo Carter became known 
throughout the Reserve. He was highly respected as a worthy citizen 
and was known as the famous real pioneer of the Cuyahoga Valley. To the 
extent that he had the great influence over the Indian he had the con¬ 
fidence and respect of the white men. The first social dance or ball that 
took place in Cleveland was held at the Carter Tavern, the renowned log 
cabin. It was held July 4, 1801. There were about thirty in attendance. 
They came from all around and were dressed in all sorts of style. Some 
came on foot and some on horseback. The dancing was in the front room 
or parlor with its puncheon floor and its walls decorated with deer horns, 
powder horns, rifles and shotguns. The dance began at an early hour 


316 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


and lasted until daylight. The orchestra consisted of a Mr. Jones, who, 
after tuning up his fiddle, struck up as the first number “Hie, Betty 
Martin,” the favorite air of that day. Here, as we have said, occurred the 
first wedding in Cleveland. 

Of Major Carter, Harvey Rice has this to say: “Major Lorenzo 
Carter was the right man in the right place for the time in which he 
lived. No man, perhaps, could have accomplished more, or executed his 
life’s work better than he did under the same circumstances. He accumu¬ 
lated a handsome property, and in the latter part of his life purchased a 
large farm, which he improved, and which lay on the west side of the 
Cuyahoga River, nearly opposite the termination of Superior Street. This 
farm, after his death, became the property of his son, Alonzo Carter, who 
occupied it for many years, when it was sold to the Buffalo Land Com¬ 
pany and cut up into city lots. It has now become an important business 
part of the City of Cleveland. The major died February 7, 1814, at forty- 
seven years of age. He was the father of nine children, three sons, Alonzo, 
Henry and Lorenzo, and six daughters, Laura, Rebecca, Polly, Rebecca II, 
Mercy and Betsey. Lorenzo and both Rebeccas died in infancy. Henry 
was drowned when but ten years old in the Cuyahoga River. The other 
children attained maturity and led exemplary lives. His wife died October 
19, 1827. The descendants of the major are numerous, and are not only 
worthy, but highly respected citizens. His grandsons, Henry, Lorenzo, 
Charles and Edward Carter, reside in the City of Cleveland, and others 
of his descendants reside in the vicinity, or at no great distance, and are 
connected by marriage with prominent families—The Rathburns and 
Northrops of Olmsted Falls, the Akins of Brooklyn, the Abies of Rock- 
port, the Cathans of Chagrin Falls, the Rathburns of Newburgh, the 
Peets of Ridgeville, Mrs. Crow of Newburgh and others. Major Carter 
and his wife, Rebecca, were consigned to their final resting place in the 
Erie Street Cemetery, near its western entrance. Two marble headstones 
mark the spot, and also bear upon their face a brief record that is worthy 
of a reverent remembrance.” Lorenzo Carter, dying before the age of 
fifty, left a Cleveland emerging as a border town but still small. If an¬ 
other twenty-five years more of life had been allotted him he would, no 
doubt, have contributed much to industrial Cleveland. In 1808 he built 
the first vessel constructed at Cleveland, a thirty ton schooner named the 
“Zephyr” and designed for the lake trade. 

The return of peace following the war with England did not bring 
immediate prosperity to Cleveland. There was a money stringency. 
Agricultural products about Cleveland were abundantly on the increase 
but were excessively cheap. Transportation East was expensive and that 
was the only market. The settlers, too, were generally in debt for their 
land and their payments must go to the eastern owners. Some business 
was done but the population was small and the increase was slow. Five 
years after the war the condition was most discouraging. 

This condition had a tendency to increase the shipping for transporta¬ 
tion was in demand. This year Levi Johnson built another schooner 
in the same manner as the first. It was built in the woods where the 
Central Market is now and was hauled to the river in the same manner 
as was the Pilot. It was named the Neptune and was a vessel of sixty-five 
tons. In the year that the village was organized Noble H. Merwin moved 
to Cleveland and began business as a tavern keeper in the tavern formerly 
conducted by George Wallace. This hostelry was located on Superior 
Street and Virginia Lane. Merwin was an enterprising citizen. He soon 
engaged in the provision trade and in ship building. Miss Bixby, later 
Mrs. Philo Scovill, who came to Cleveland in 1816, has left recorded 



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318 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


recollections of the town at that time. She says that when she came, 
Levi Johnson, Alfred Kelly and Phineas Shepard were much in evidence. 
Phineas Shepard kept the old Carter tavern. The widow Carter was 
living on the farm at the foot of Superior Street and there was a large 
rye field in front of her house. Doctor Long and Doctor McIntosh, N. H. 
Merwin and Hiram Hachett, tavern keepers, Horace Perry and Philo 
Scovill, afterwards her husband, who kept a drug store, were mentioned. 
There was no church nor settled minister. Traveling preachers came 
from time to time and meetings were held in the schoolhouse in winter 
and in the courthouse in summer. The people were called to meeting by 
the blowing of a bugle by a Mr. Bliss. The first courthouse was built on 
the Public Square by Levi Johnson at a cost of $500. It was built of logs 
and the raising was in progress when the booming of cannon announced 
the Battle of Lake Erie. This was September 10, 1813. A little later 
a great social event occurred in Cleveland when the citizens gave a banquet 
to Com. Oliver Hazard Perry and Gen. William Henry Harrison 
The shipwrights of Cleveland were swelled with pride because they had 
built two of the ships of Perry’s fleet, the Porcupine and the Portage. 
After the surrender of the Americans at Detroit and before the victory of 
Perry, a stockade was built at Cleveland by the government officer Capt. 
Stanton Sholes, as a defense. Lorenzo Carter and James Kingsbury 
were active in its construction. It was located in a thick wood west of 
West Third Street and north of Lakeside Avenue. It was a star shaped 
structure built of chestnut logs, capable of accommodating a garrison of 
200 men and was called Fort Huntington. Its armament consisted of 
one cannon mounted on a pair of wagon wheels. This gun commanded 
the mouth of the river, but its effectiveness was not demonstrated. 
“Queen Charlotte” of the British fleet appeared before Cleveland in June 
of 1813, but she was driven off by a violent storm, and not by the gun of 
Fort Huntington. 

The Township of Cleveland continued after the formation of the 
village and the election of village officers. From the records, the last 
general election, electing a full quota of township officers, was held in 
1838, April 2nd. The trustees were H. H. Dodge, John A. Vincent and 
T. H. Watkins; justices of the peace, A. D. Smith and George Hoadley; 
clerk, Henry Sexton; treasurer, N. Dockstader; fence viewers, S. W. 
Baldwin, R. Dunham and Levi Billings; constables, and it seems these 
officers were multiplied in number to form a sort of police force for the 
village and the embryo city, Lewis Dibble, Henry Morgan, Elijah Peet, 
Almon Burgess, Seth A. Abbey and Seth M. Billings. There was elected 
at this time also supervisors of the highways, as follows: J. R. Waters, 
S. Giddings, B. Crawford, S. Erwin, W. O’Connor, W. Cleveland, John 
Blair and R. Scovill to represent the various road districts. The previous 
year, in April, a justice election was held and J. F. Benedict and Joseph 
Adams were the choice of the electors, but this election was contested 
and another held in May, when Samuel Underhill and Isaac T. Benedict 
were elected, J. F. Benedict receiving only a few votes. The records 
show that this contested election cost the township $29.50. 

There were three school districts at this time and the enrollment is 
recorded as twenty-eight in number one, twenty-six in number two, and 
137 in number three. This enrollment was probably of residents and 
not “scholars,” for it includes the names of Nathan Perry Philo 
Scovill, Peter M. Weddell, A. W. Walworth, Irad Kelley, Leonard 
Case, Abraham Hickox, Samuel Williamson and other well known 
names. Fence viewers were elected at the last election recorded, but 
apparently the township was not adequately fenced for the records 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


319 


show that twenty-four citizens filed with the clerk ear marks for cattle, 
sheep and swine, indicating that a joint pasturage was used by the 
settlers. This completes the record of the township after the forming 
of the village and from this time Cleveland Township soon became merely 
a judicial township and so existed until the establishment of the Municipal 
Court, when it passed away, except in history. 

But to return to the village proper—if one had come to Cleveland in 
1816 with Leonard Case he would have found as did Mr. Case, Water 



Leonard Case 


Street a winding path in the bushes and Vineyard Lane and Union Lane 
paths leading down to the river, a street called Mandrake Lane, and West 
Third and West Sixth streets, all woods, between Saint Clair and Lake 
streets, a slashing, that is, the large timber cut down, but the small left 
growing, and with the walls of Fort Huntington still standing. There was 
a new schoolhouse where the Kennard House now is located. It was 18 by 
20 feet and had a stone chimney. Between the river hill and the river 
it was a swamp. In what is now the wholesale section of the city, there 
were improved lots and the rye field of Mrs. Carter. Ontario north of 
the Square, Superior east, and East Ninth Street were deep woods. 

Superior and Water streets were the business streets of Cleveland. 
On Superior Street lived Noble H. Merwin, his wife Minerva, his clerk 
William Ingersoll and his boarders, Thomas O. Young, Philo Scovill 
and Leonard Case. There was Hiram Hachett, wife, and five children, 
Silas Walworth and wife, James Gear and wife, hatters. It is said lhat 





320 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


these pioneer hatters of Cleveland made the broad pioneer hat, the prede¬ 
cessor of the famous Stetson, and, for statesmen real and aspiring, the 
tall white hat always associated with Gen. William Henry Harrison. On 
this street, but we are advancing too fast in history, for it was called 
at that time Superior Lane, we would have found Darius B. Henderson, 
his wife and daughter, Dr. David Long, his wife, Juliana, and two children, 
A. W. Walworth, postmaster and collector of the port, Daniel Kelley and 
sons Alfred, Joseph R., Thomas M. and Irad. Joseph R. and Irad Kelley 
were merchants associated in business. Almon Kingsbury had a store on 
Superior with his father, James Kingsbury. Pliny Mowry kept a tavern 
on the site of the Cleveland Hotel of today. There was Horace Berry 
and his wife Abigail, Abram Hickox, the blacksmith, survivor of the 
explosion in celebrating the dawn of peace, with his wife and family, 
Amasa Bailey, Christopher Gun, who operated the ferry across the 
Cuyahoga, George Pease and Phineas Shepard, who kept tavern in the 
old Carter house, part log and part frame, Nathan Perry and wife, who 
kept a store with a very large assortment for that day, John Aughenbaugh 
and family, the town butcher, a negro family, the names not known, 
Dr. David O. Hoyt, who moved soon after to Worcester, George Wallace, 
another tavern keeper, his wife Harriet, four children and steady guests 
or boarders, James Root, S. S. Dudley, H. Willman, William Gaylord 
and C. Belden. There was Asahel Abell, cabinet maker, and David 
Burroughs, Sr., and David Burroughs, Jr., blacksmiths, all pioneer business 
men of this main street of the Village of Cleveland. 

On Water (West Ninth) Street could be found Samuel and Mathew 
Williamson, tanners, the widow of Major Carter, John Burtiss, brewer 
and vessel builder, John A. Ackley, afterwards the first marshal of the 
Village of Cleveland, and two lake captains with their families. William 
C. Johnson and Harpin Johnson. On the west side of the river, as Mr. 
Case remembered, there was only one family, that of Alonzo Carter, son 
of Lorenzo, the first treasurer of the village. 

This gives a human glimpse of industrial Cleveland at that time, but 
the line of industries and commercial activities were growing. The next 
year a Mr. White put up a tailor shop, the first in the town, but he was 
obliged to go to Newburgh for a painter, as there were none in Cleve¬ 
land. Newburgh was more widely known then as letters were frequently 
addressed to Cleveland, Ohio, six miles from Newburgh. The ware¬ 
houses on the river were of logs, but already buildings were coming into 
existence of better construction. In 1817 Leonard Case and William 
Gaylord built the first frame warehouse on the river. It was north of 
Saint Qair Street. Soon Levi Johnson and Dr. David Long built another 
nearby, and John Blair another. The price of lots in the village were 
steadily advancing and in 1816 the assessed value of the property in the 
village was $21,065. On Bank (East Sixth) Street, Abel R. Garlick 
began cutting stone, which added another industry to swell the total. 

Money was beginning to circulate and in 1816 the Commercial Bank 
of Lake Erie was started with Leonard Case as cashier, but there was 
not enough business to support it and after three years of life it went 
out of existence, only to be revived later as greater business activitv 
made it necessary. This was the first financial institution in Cleveland. 
Some advance was made in 1818 and new additions to the citizenry. 
Orlando Cutler, a man with a vision, who foresaw the growth of the 
town, opened a store with a twenty thousand dollar stock of goods, a large 
addition to the town. Reuben Wood, a lawyer, who was afterwards 
governor of Ohio came that year. James Kingsbury sold to Leonard Case 
fifty acres of land which included the present site of the Federal Building, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


321 


the Qeveland Postoffice, for $100 per acre. This was the most extensive 
real estate transaction up to that time. But the beginning of the great 
era of progress touched the life of Cleveland when “Walk in the Water,” 
the first steamboat to ply the lakes came to the town that year. Of course 
all the population of the village came to the shore to view the marvel, which 
made very good time for a beginner. Cleveland, the capital of the Western 
Reserve, must have a newspaper, and in 1818 The Cleveland Gazette and 
Commercial Register was started and the next year The Cleveland Herald. 

In enumerating the early settlers of Cleveland and recounting their 
deeds it is with especial pride that we speak of Alfred Kelley, who came 
to Cleveland in 1810. Born in Middletown, Connecticut, in 1787, he re¬ 
ceived a common school and academic education and studied law. He 
came to Cleveland in company with his uncle, Judge Joshua Stowe, and 



Nathan Perry 

Dr. Jared P. Kirtland. Admitted to the bar on the year of his arrival he 
became the first prosecuting attorney of Cuyahoga County and continued in 
that office for twelve years. He was elected to represent this county, Ashta¬ 
bula and Geauga in the Legislature, and was reelected when Huron, hav¬ 
ing been detached from Cuyahoga, was included in his district. He was 
the first president (mayor) of the Village of Cleveland. He was an advo¬ 
cate of advanced ideas in the law, in finance, and in internal improvements, 
and as included in the latter he was a foremost promoter of the building 
of the Ohio Canal, and was superintendent of its construction when the 
project was finally under way. Fortunate for the town founded by Moses 
Cleveland it certainly was that a Cleveland man was in the councils of the 
projectors for if the lake terminus of the canal had been other than at the 
mouth of the Cuyahoga the growth of the city must have been delayed 
many years. But it is not of this that we wish particularly to speak. 

While spoken of as “the father of the Ohio Canal,” Mr. Kelley was 
the father of a reform movement of far reaching and heart gripping 
import. In the session of the Legislature he introduced a measure for the 
abolishment of imprisonment for debt. This session was held in 1816 and 
1817 and was the Fifteenth General Assembly of Ohio. The bill did not 
pass and become a law at that time but it began the agitation. The old 
annals recite that this was the first bill to abolish imprisonment for debt 
that was introduced in any legislative body in the world. After the publi- 


322 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


cation of the poem on the subject by Whittier the reform spread and was 
adopted in all the states of the Union and in other parts of the world. The 
lines of Whittier, incorporated in the school readers, are familiar and we 
quote from them by way of calling attention more particularly to the sub¬ 
ject and to the author of the bill referred to, Hon. Alfred Kelley. In the 
thirty-sixth legislative session, when Leverett Johnson represented Cuya¬ 
hoga County, by act of March 19, 1838, imprisonment for debt was abol¬ 
ished in Ohio. 


“What has the gray-haired prisoner done? 
Has murder stained his hands with gore? 
Not so; his crime’s a fouler one; 

God made the old man poor! 

For this he shares a felon’s cell, 

The fittest earthly type of hell! 

For this, the boon for which he poured 
His young blood on the invader’s sword, 
And counted light the fearful cost, 

His blood gained liberty is lost! 

* * * * * * * 
Down with the law that binds him thus! 

Unworthy freemen, let it find 
No refuge from the withering curse 
Of God and human kind! 

Open the prisoner’s living tomb 
And usher from its brooding gloom 
The victim of your savage code 
To the free sun and air of God; 

No longer dare as crime to brand 
The chastening of the Almighty’s hand.” 


While in the Legislature Mr. Kelley drew the state bank statute, and 
which nearly a century later served as a model for our present national 
banking law. He labored hard to give the state a just and equitable sys¬ 
tem of taxation, a problem that seems to be still unsolved. In the grave 
crisis of 1841 he saved the state from the disgrace of repudiation by pledg¬ 
ing his own personal fortune to secure the money with which the obliga¬ 
tions of Ohio could be met. Ohio has furnished to the nation many finan¬ 
ciers of wide reputation. Alfred Kelley was the pioneer of all. He was a 
typical pioneer in this, that he raised a large family. He was married in 
1817 to Mary Seymour Welles, daughter of Major Melancthon W. Welles 
of Martinsburg, New York. Their children were Maria, Jane, Charlotte, 
Edward, Adelaide, Henry, Helen, Frank, Annie, Alfred and Katherine. 
Besides being the “father” of the Ohio Canal with its northern terminus 
at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, Mr. Kelley served as one of the fund com¬ 
missioners, having charge of the funds necessary to prosecute the various 
canal enterprises of the state. And more—it is interesting to follow the 
career of this man, who was associated so intimately with the early days 
of Cleveland—railroads came and he was chosen to superintend the con¬ 
struction of a number. He was the first president of the Columbus & 
Xenia Railroad (1845), was president of the Cleveland, Columbus & 
Cincinnati Railroad (1847), now a part of the Big Four System, and was 
president of the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroad (1857), 
now a part of the New York Central Railroad. His entire life was de¬ 
voted to efforts to develop the state. And he devoted many years of 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


323 


service for when first in the Ohio Legislature he was the youngest mem¬ 
ber. He died at Columbus, December 2, 1859. 

In a narrative history it is of course impossible to even mention, much 
less discuss, all who by their activities in the building up of Cleveland 
deserve a tribute. The very early years, with its sparse population, brought 
out in bolder relief the characters, who laid the foundation of the present 
great and growing city. Into this little community of promise in 1818 
came Ansel Young, settling out at Doan’s Corners. He was a man of sci¬ 
entific attainments and was an intimate friend of Jared Sparks, the famous 
scientist, preacher, and author. Young was known as a maker of almanacs, 
an occupation followed by his friend Sparks also. 

We have mentioned the first newspapers. From the early files we find 
much interesting data. The files of a well conducted newspaper contain a 
living breathing history. From a copy of the Herald of 1819 we learn 
that Ephraim Hubbell was putting up carding machines at the mills in 
Newburgh, that he would soon do carding and that his charge would be 
6 1 /a cents per pound, that Dr. David Long was selling salt, plaster, iron, 
buffalo robes and many other staple articles, that E. Childs was selling 
fanning mills, and John Morgan making wagons, and that H. Foote was 
keeping a book store. One issue told the readers there was no news from 
Columbus as no mail had arrived since the last week’s issue. Among the 
arrivals in Cleveland the next year were Mr. Weddell and Michael 
Spangler, one engaging in mercantile pursuits and the other starting the 
first restaurant in the town. The term restaurant was not used then and 
the hotel came later. Spangler kept The Commercial Coffee House where 
meals were served and Mr. Weddell after succeeding in business built the 
Weddell House on Superior Street, for years the finest hotel in Cleveland. 
During the time of Cleveland, the village, the religious advantages were 
few. Trinity Episcopal Church was organized in 1816, but with only occa¬ 
sional services by a minister. In 1820 a few residents engaged Rev. Ran¬ 
dolph Stone, pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Ashtabula, to give one- 
third of his time to Cleveland and the First Presbyterian Church was 
organized with fourteen members. 

By the following year the village was emerging from the pioneer stage 
for wolves had entirely disappeared. Hunters were still getting deer and 
it was the hunting of big game that called out the men and dogs with no 
game laws to interfere. It was a common sight to see a deer pressed by the 
dogs to swim out into the lake for a mile or more and then turn again to 
the shore and seek a safe landing place. Business rivalry was keen and 
in 1822 a merchant in the village advertised that all goods mentioned could 
be found in his little white store notwithstanding the insinuations put 
forth from the big brick store. This year the first bridge was built across 
the Cuyahoga. It was built by contributions and not by a tax. Some 
gave money, some wheat or rye, some lumber, some whiskey and many 
labor. In this year also a brick school building was put up and a school 
opened for higher education. It was called the Cleveland Academy and 
two years later Levi Johnson built the first steamboat. It was called the 
“Enterprise” and was a steamer of 220 tons, the most pretentious vessel 
yet built in Cleveland. There was a small cluster of houses on the west 
side called Brooklyn, but Josiah Barber and the thrifty pioneers over there 
were yet to become rivals of the city surveyed under the direction of Moses 
Cleveland. The dream city of his founding was yet a village but it looked 
out to the lake and dreamed of a harbor where boats laden with commerce 
should ride and it was not an idle dream. At this time a bar at the mouth 
of the river prevented large vessels from entering the river and even small 
ones had difficulty. Like the business rivalry between the little white store 


Vol. 1-11 


324 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


and the big brick store in local affairs there was a rivalry between the ports 
along the lake. In 1825 the Sandusky Clarion indulged in ridicule of the 
Cleveland harbor. It said that yawls, which unloaded vessels at Cleveland 
stuck in the bar at the mouth of the river. The Cleveland Herald replied 
that canoes entering Sandusky Bay ran afoul of catfish and were detained 
until shaken off by ague fits of the crew. Attention was now turning more 
particularly to the matter of internal waterways and accompanying cheap 
and adequate transportation. July 4th of the year 1825, when Cleveland, 
had a population of five hundred souls, ground was broken for the Ohio 
Canal, which was to traverse the state from the mouth of the Cuyahoga 
to the Ohio River. This was the turning point in the history of Cleveland. 
Twenty-five years, a quarter of a century, had elapsed since the city had 
been laid out and yet it was a small village. The opening of work on the 
canal brought an army of workers. Cleveland became in a short time a 
boom town and its growth was constant and rapid. In 1831 its popula¬ 
tion was 1,100, the next year 1,500, the next 1,900, the next 3,323 
and in 1835, the last year of its existence as a village it had a population 
of 4,250. The boom was apparent on both sides of the river, Brooklyn 
across the river that had only 200 people in 1825, under the impetus given 
to it by the building of the Ohio Canal, gained in a corresponding ratio and 
became a rival of Cleveland, and as we have stated in a former chapter 
beat out Cleveland a short time in forming a city government. In this 
year John W. Allen came to Cleveland and was later president of the 
village. There is an overlapping of authority between the township and 
the village and the city as the township continued with full civic authority 
until 1850, when the aldermen of the city became trustees ex-officio of the 
township, the city clerk in the same way clerk of the township and the city 
treasurer, treasurer of the township. 

The trustees of the township have been Amos Spafford, Timothy Doan, 
William W. Williams, James Kingsbury, Lorenzo Carter, David Dille, 
Augustus Gilbert, James Hamilton, Nathaniel Doan, Philemon Baldwin, 
Harvey Murray, Rudolphus Edwards, Theodore Miles, Daniel Warren, 
Samuel Williamson, George Aiken, Horace Perry, Asa Brainard, Job 
Doan, Isaac Hinckley, Daniel Kelley, O. Brainard, Jr., Phineas Shepherd, 
Seth C. Baldwin, Ahimacz Sherwin, Eleazer Waterman, James Strong, 
Leonard Case, Andrew Logan, Moses Jewett, Wildman White, Peter M. 
Weddell, Henry L. Noble, Philo Scovill, D. H. Beardsley, Andrew Cozad, 
Robert Cather, Rufus Dunham, Charles L. Camp, Ansel Young, Gordon 
Fitch, Sylvester Pease, John Barr, Silas Baldwin, H. H. Dodge, John A. 
Vincent, T. H. Watkins, Timothy Ingraham, Benjamin Crawford, Abijah 
Wheeler, George Withered, Benjamin Rouse, Horatio Ranney, R. T. 
Lyon, M. M. Spangler, William T. Goodwin, Benjamin S. Decker, John 
Pritchard, John M. Bailey, and B. M. Spangler. 

The clerks have been Nathaniel Doan, Stanley Griswold, Erastus 
Miles, Asa W. Walworth, Horace Perry, Daniel Kelley, Hershel Foote, 
S. J. Hamlin, Dudley Baldwin, Edward Baldwin, George C. Dodge, S. S. 
Flint, Henry Sexton, Loren Prentiss, Jesse P. Bishop, Charles L. Fish, 
Ellery G. Williams, George W. Lynch, D. W. Cross. As indicating the 
character of the men who have served the township and their standing 
in the community it may be noted that Stanley Griswold, the second town¬ 
ship clerk, was elected and took office immediately after serving as United 
States senator. Edward Tiffin resigned as senator and Stanlev Griswold 
was appointed by Governor Huntington to fill the interim until' the Legis¬ 
lature should meet to elect his successor. 

The treasurers of the township have been Timothy Doan, James Kings¬ 
bury, Lorenzo Carter, Nathaniel Doan, Stanley Griswold, George Wallace, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


325 


Horace Perry, David Long, Asahel W. Walworth, Irad Kelley, Timothy 
Watkins, Hershel Foote, Daniel Kelley, Peter M. Weddell, Ahimaz Sher- 
win, Jr., Daniel Worley, Nicholas Dockstader, James H. Kelley, George B. 
Tibbits; Henry G. Abbey, William T. Goodwin, George F. Marshall, D. W. 
Cross, and S. S. Lyon. The office of justice of the peace for Cleveland 
Township continued for many years after the city officers assumed by vir¬ 
tue of their position the duties of other township officers. The list there¬ 
fore is very large. Among those who served as justices of the peace for 
the first seventy-five years of the township’s existence are: Amos Spafford, 
Timothy Doan, Nathaniel Doan, Theodore Niles, Samuel S. Baldwin, 
William Coleman, James Kingsbury, Erastus Miles, George Wallace, 
Horace Perry, Samuel Williamson, Cyril Aikens, Job Doan, Samuel 
Cowles, Eleazer Waterman, Asahel W. Walworth, Harvey Rice, Gordon 
Fitch, Orvill B. Skinner, Varnum J. Card, Andrew Cozad, George Hoad- 
ley, Samuel Underhill, A. D. Smith, Isaac F. Benedict, John Day, John 
Gardner, J. Barr, Isaac Sherman, Edward Hessenmueller, Charles L. 
Fish, M. Barnett, James D. Cleveland, George W. Lund, J. T. Philpot, 
Almon Burgess, H. H. Holden, Isaac C. Vail, George H. Benham, Henry 
Chapman, John R. Fitzgerald, Madison Miller, Wells Porter, Samuel 
Foljambe, Julius H. Brown, Joseph S. Allen, Horace N. Bill, Perry W. 
Payne, John P. Green, H. P. Bates, E. A. Goddard, Charles H. Babcock, 
Albert H. Weed, Felix Nicola, A. J. Hamilton, Truman D. Peck, W. K. 
Smith and H. P. Bates. 

There were ten presidents of the Village of Cleveland before the city 
government was established, that is from 1815 to 1836. Their names in 
the order in which they served are Alfred Kelley, Daniel Kelley, Horace 
Perry, Leonard Case, E. Waterman, Samuel Cowles, D. Long, Richard 
Hilliard, John W. Allen, and Samuel Starkweather. 


CHAPTER XXVI 

THE COUNTY AND ITS GOVERNMENT 

Having traced the townships and villages and cities up to the time 
when Cleveland came upon the scene as a city and the county seat, it 
seems appropriate here to address our attention to the county, which 
includes all and has at the same time an authority quite distinct from the 
rest. As we have said the authority of the county is much greater in Ohio 
than in New England, where the unit of government is the township or 
town, as it is more often called. It is one of the interesting features of 
the complex government founded by the fathers, where the people should 
rule,, to note how it functions so smoothly like the cylinders of the auto¬ 
mobile, each seemingly independent, yet all working in harmony. The 
objectors to the Constitution of the United States and to the constitutions 
of the states could cite many instances where the machinery might fail to 
work, but the wisdom of the founders of the first great republic has been 
practically demonstrated. An instance occurred in the administration of 
justice in this county in the early days, which we will relate. Some 
property had been levied upon by a writ issued by a justice of the peace 
■of a township and was held in the possession of a constable. Along came 
the sheriff of the county with a writ and the property was turned over to 
him without any question as to his right of possession. Then came the 
United States marshal with a writ from the United States court and the 
sheriff in turn gave possession without hesitation and all claims were 
finally adjusted in equity and without the slightest flurry or embarrass¬ 
ment. 

In discussing the county entire it seems the proper time to add to the 
very early history already touched upon in the chapters on the various 
townships. We have given an account of the destruction of the Eries, 
who were the first inhabitants of which we have any knowledge. After 
the Eries were destroyed this county became the domain of the powerful 
Iroquois. Their western boundary was the Cuyahoga River. None dare 
dispute their sway. Their real center of authority was, however, in central 
New York. This region was only their hunting ground. Following the 
destruction of the Eries they were at the height of their power, no 
nation or league of nations could cope with them. They had among them 
no Massasoit to establish friendly relations with the whites. The feeble 
settlements of the white men courted their friendship and feared their 
enmity. They claimed no further west than the Cuyahoga River. That 
part of Cuyahoga County west of the river was not permanently occupied 
by any tribe, but was claimed by another confederation less powerful than 
tibe Iroquois composed of the Ottawas, Chippewas and Pottawattomies. 
The Shawnees, whose seat of government was in Indiana, often hunted 
along the shores of Lake Erie. As a matter of fact, the Indian claims 
were a sort of “squatter sovereignty” not clearly defined by boundary lines 
and varied according to the power or caprice of the various tribes. 

The Iroquois had an old grudge against the French, but the French 
more than any other people were skillful in managing the savages. They 
were attempting to secure trade and a final conquest of the continent, but 

326 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


327 


they came largely as traders and not as settlers. Their method was to 
establish trading posts about large tracts, which they claimed in the name 
of their king, and then turn over the task of civilizing the Indians to their 
missionaries. The first white men to come into Cuyahoga County were 
the French as traders and missionaries. An anonymous writer, but one 
whose account seems to bear evidences of accurate information, says that 
La Salle came to the south shore of Lake Erie in 1669. La Salle’s map, 
published in 1672, called the body of water north of Cuyahoga County 
“Lake Tejocharonting, commonly called Lake Erie.” It is known that 
as early as 1679 Lake Erie was explored by a European vessel. This 
expedition was under the command of La Salle, whose full name was 
Robert Cavelier de la Salle. He was a Frenchman thirty-five years old, a 
“bold, gallant and successful explorer.” This inland exploration was 



First Courthouse 


financed by the French government. La Salle was a native of Rouen 
and for thirteen years before coming to America had led a life of adven¬ 
ture. He was commissioned by Louis XIV to explore with a view to- 
extending the western boundaries of New France, the region in North 
America including the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, claimed and 
partly settled by France. In the winter and spring of 1678 and 79 he 
built a vessel of sixty tons on the Niagara River above the falls. It was 
called the Griffin and was manned by thirty-four men. In August in 1678 
it sailed up Lake Erie. La Salle is represented as a handsome, blue-eyed 
cavalier, with smooth cheeks and curly hair flowing in beautiful ringlets. 
He was more like a drawing room favorite than a daring, dare-devil, 
wildwood adventurer. From all accounts La Salle was the embodiment of 
both, and the dare-devils of history have often been of that make-up. His 
second in command was an Italian named Henry de Tontin, son of the 
inventor of the plan of insurance that takes his name. Tontin had 
served in the Sicilian wars in Italy and had been exiled from his native 
land by revolution. He had an unwavering contempt of danger and was 
devotedly loyal to his chief. A third famous voyager on the Griffin was 
the celebrated Father Hennepin, a Franciscan friar of Flemish birth, 
priest and historian of the expedition. This man came with sandaled 





328 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


feet, a gray capote or cloak and a peaked hood. The cord of St. Francis 
was about his waist and a rosary and crucifix hung at his side. He had 
two attendants and they carried with them a light, portable altar, which 
could be strapped on the back like a knapsack or set up in the wilderness at 
a moment’s notice. Father Hennepin displayed the same courage as the 
commanders and was filled with the most devoted zeal in his efforts to 
convert the savages to Christianity. 

No one doubted at this time that France would have sway over this 
region undisputed by civilized man, for Charles II was at that time the 
mere vassal of Louis XIV. The Griffin sailed up through the lakes to 
Green Bay. There La Salle, Tontin and Father Hennepin remained, while 
the vessel, loaded with furs, returned, but it was never heard from more. 
Either Lake Michigan, Lake Huron or Lake Erie swallowed it up, crew, 
vessel and cargo. Much speculation as to its fate has been indulged in. 
Some have adopted the theory that it was driven upon the south shore of 
Lake Erie and the crew murdered by the vengeful Iroquois. Relics have 
been found near the mouth of the Rocky which it is claimed were from the 
lost Griffin. It is also asserted that La Salle and his companions, before 
making their historic journey down the Mississippi, returned from Fort 
Creve Coeur (Joliet, Illinois) to Canada for supplies, and having heard 
nothing from the Griffin, searched along the south shore of Lake Erie, 
crossing Cuyahoga County to ascertain, if possible, the fate of the lost 
vessel. The subsequent history of that daring adventurer as the field 
representative of the French government up to the time when he was 
murdered by one of his own men in Texas, is interesting, but not connected 
with our history. The French, however, were closely allied with the very 
early history here. The Englishman came and in the wars that followed 
between the French and English the Iroquois were generally on the side 
of the English, but the French had acquired the friendship of the Senecas 
and made many profitable voyages after furs in this region on Lake Erie, 
but their trading posts were on the west side of the Cuyahoga. By the 
Treaty of Utrecht following Queen Anne’s War the Iroquois, or Six 
Nations, were acknowledged to be subjects of Great Britain, but no definite 
boundaries were assigned them, but as constituting the Iroquois country 
Great Britain claimed as far west as the Cuyahoga River. The French, 
by right of discovery and possession, claimed both shores of the Great 
Lakes and the whole of the Mississippi Valley. The Iroquois repudiated 
the pretentions of both countries, but while being jealous of the English 
because of the colonizing of certain sections, in the disturbances between 
the two nations sided with the English, while the western Indians allied 
themselves with the French. The French did not colonize, but were 
content to establish their fur trading posts and stations for their mission¬ 
aries. The English had done no colonizing in the far west, as this region 
was then designated. All this history, while a part of the general history 
of the United States, is pertinent here because of the peculiar situation of 
the territory to become Cuyahoga County. It is a significant fact in history 
that both nations did not hesitate to use the redman as allies in the wars 
for supremacy in the continent. The Indians were used by the British in 
the Revolutionary War against the Colonies, and that fact brought forth 
an eloquent protest from one of her great statesmen in the British Parlia¬ 
ment. According to the claims of the French, Ohio was considered a 
part of Louisiana and the whole territory was divided for administration 
into provinces, each in charge of a military commandant and all subject to 
the general commander of Louisiana. One subdivision included all the 
territory northwest of the Ohio River. These would-be rulers exercised 
very little authority outside of the walls of their fortresses. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


329 


Both the English and the French were intriguing with the various tribes 
of Indians. Each nation got grants of various kinds. The powerful 
Iroquois weakened under foreign diplomacy. The English got some sort 
of a grant from the Iroquois to combat the French claim to this territory. 
It provided that the English were to hold the land as far west as the 
Cuyahoga River forever in trust for the Indians. The Indians got diplo¬ 
matic and one faction of the same tribe would treat with the English and 
another with the French. And so this territory continued for many years, 
the only white men seen would be an occasional French trader or an 
extremely daring Englishman and now and then a gowned Jesuit, risking 
his life to spread the faith of his church among the savages. The war 
between France and England concluded by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle 
in 1748 did not change conditions here. After that treaty there was an 
Ohio Company organized in Virginia for the settlement of land west of the 
Alleghanies. They secured from the Virginia Colony a grant of very 
indefinite territory. Among other things it provided that if the owners 
could maintain themselves on the Ohio River and the shores of Lake Erie 
they were welcome to do so. It might be implied from this that they then 
would own the land between. The treaty of Aix la Chapelle soon became 
a scrap of paper, the contest between France and England for territory 
continued. In 1749 the French Governor General of Canada sent an 
envoy to visit important points and take possession in the name of the King 
of France. His method was to bury at certain places a leaden plate 
engraved with the coat of arms of France and at the same time make a 
curious record called a “proces verbal/' being a declaration taken before 
a notary public to the effect that he did then and there take possession of 
the surrounding territory in the name and for the benefit of the King of 
France. The mouth of the Cuyahoga had long been considered an 
important geographical location, being on the western boundary of the 
Iroquois country, but if he buried a plate there it has long since been 
washed away by the encroachments of the lake and the "proces verbal” 
washed into the waters of oblivion. The new French Governor General of 
Canada, appointed in 1752, was even more aggressive in making claim to 
territory than the one mentioned and now the Indians became very much 
disturbed, asserting that England claimed a lot of their territory and the 
French the rest. In protest the tribes held a council near Pittsburgh and 
Patrick Henry speeches were indulged in. Notwithstanding this demon¬ 
stration under the direction of the Governor General aforesaid, French 
posts were established the next year at Presque Isle (Erie) and points 
south and the French laid claim to the territory west. Under this claim 
the territory of the Western Reserve would be French territory. At this 
time a French post was established on the Cuyahoga River. It is shown 
on the old maps five or six miles up the river from its mouth and on the 
west side. This was the first European establishment within the present 
limits of Cuvahoga County. All this procedure by the French had its 
effect. The English Colonies were much excited. A meeting of their 
representatives was held at Albany. Benjamin Franklin was a delegate 
from the Pennsylvania Colony. He proposed a plan of action, which was 
not adopted. The substance of his proposition was published in his paper 
afterwards. He proposed planting a fort at French Creek and another at 
the mouth of the Cuyahoga on the south side of Lake Erie, where a town 
should be erected for the trade of the lake. Thus it was Benjamin 
Franklin who first suggested the building of a town at the mouth of the 
Cuyahoga. His suggestion of course meant the driving away of the 
French. It meant war. And war came. In that year the famous defeat 
of Braddock occurred. The western Indians took part in that battle. 


330 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Braddock was directed to expel the French from their encroachments on 
English territory. Word was given out that he was on the march. The 
Indians friendly to the French were notified and they swarmed along the 
lake in canoes, many going up the Cuyahoga to the French post and then 
on by portage and stream to the scene of the battle, near Fort Duquesne 
(Pittsburgh). In the year following the English, aided by the Iroquois, 
defeated the French, aided by the western Indians, in many battles. In 
1760 Canada surrendered to the British. Cuyahoga County now was 
Indian territory, but held in trust by the English. After the surrender of 



Centennial Arch 


Canada the English ruled, but permitted the Indians to have nominal 
ownership. 

The Iroquois did not apparently have exclusive rights east of the 
Cuyahoga, for there was an Ottawa village east of the river in Inde¬ 
pendence. After the English possession the great chief Pontiac arose to 
power, and he made war on the garrisons, besieged Detroit, and made 
himself generally troublesome. Aside from this the English were dis¬ 
turbed by the fact that there were many French posts flying the French 
flag in their territory. An English commander named Rodgers was sent 
out with a force to reduce the French posts and check the ravages of 
the hostile Pontiac and to establish English posts in place of the French. 
He is only connected with our history from the fact that he made a 
stop at Rocky River. His expedition was not very successful. The next 
year Sir William Johnson conducted an expedition, sailing on Lake Erie 
and stopping at the Cuyahoga. His purpose was to make friends with 





THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


381 

the western Indians and attach them to the crown the same as the Iro¬ 
quois. It may be added that Sir William Johnson was commissioner of 
Indian affairs in the Colonies. The view off the shore of Cleveland and 
Cuyahoga at this time was rather barren, except for Indian canoes. Occa¬ 
sionally in 1762 an English vessel would sail up the lake carrying supplies 
to the various posts. The western Indians were still hostile. In 1763 
an organized attack on all English posts was planned by Pontiac. Major 
Wilkins, proceeding up the lake to aid in the defense, was wrecked off 
Rocky River. Another under one Bradstreet was wrecked near the same 
place. He had a force of whites and Indians. Relics of these disasters 
have come to light on the shore years afterwards. Muskets, bayonets, 
guns and flints have been thrown up by the waves, some bearing evidence 
of these expeditions have been found as late as 1831. 

During the Revolutionary War Cuyahoga County was too far from 
the scene of action to be affected. Many of the western Indians took part, 
however. War parties often passed down the lake headed for the battle 
front. When it came to terms of peace Oswald representing England 
proposed the Ohio River as the southern boundary of the British posses¬ 
sions. The American commissioners, headed by John Adams, opposed it 
vehemently and the peace commissioners finally agreed upon the middle of 
the Great Lakes. Their findings were signed in 1783. Thus England’s 
authority over the territory comprising Cuyahoga County lasted from 1760 
to 1783. On the conclusion of peace the Americans expected to take 
possession at once of the posts south of the boundary line. The English 
refused to give them up, making the excuse that there was unfair conduct 
on the part of some of the Colonies (States) regarding debts owed by 
their citizens to British subjects. Like the World War of 1914, the after 
clap continued after peace terms were agreed upon. The British retained 
the posts at Fort Niagara, Detroit and Sandusky for some time. This 
had its effect on the conduct of the Indians, who looked upon the possess¬ 
ors of these posts as great men of this region and the British had a great 
influence over them to the detriment of the settlers from the American 
Colonies. All this had to be overcome by Moses Cleveland and Lorenzo 
Carter, representing the planners and builders of the new civilization in 
Cuyahoga County. There were also conflicting claims for title among the 
Colonies themselves by reason of the various royal charters granted from 
time to time to the Colonies. Grants of land of wide and indefinite exten¬ 
sion had been given by the Crown. These ranged from the year 1606 to 
the year 1631. In referring to one of these royal charters, and which was 
like many, the old annals recite that the territory was diabolically described. 
It is a matter of national pride that the States, in order to avoid violence 
among themselves, ceded all disputed territory to the Confederation and 
gave it authority to adjust the boundaries. 

In February the Legislature passed an act erecting the County of 
Cuyahoga. This was in 1807. The boundaries then included Willoughby 
or Chagrin, as it was called at that time, and excluded Dover and Olmsted 
on the west. The county was not organized until 1810, but was left under 
the authority of Geauga County. The seat of political power being so far 
away, authority was rather thinly spread on the western border so far as 
the county was in evidence, but the township of Cleveland was in existence 
and the Carter Law was in force. In this interim between the passing of 
the act authorizing its existence and the organization of the county 
occurred an incident that seemed likely to precipitate an Indian war. An 
Indian called Tohn Mohawk killed a white man near Hudson. The white 
man, Daniel Diver, was well and favorably known. Two of his friends 
determined to avenge his murder. They found an Indian named Nicksaw 


332 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


in the woods. Either assuming that he was the murderer or acting on 
general principles, desiring to kill some Indian, whether the right one 
or not, they shot him dead in his tracks. Major Carter and a trader 
named Campbell went with the chief of the Senecas, Stigwanish, or 
Seneca, as he was commonly called, to the place of the shooting and 
assisted in the burial of the dead Indian. They noticed that the snow was 
undisturbed, indicating that there was no combat or resistance. After¬ 
wards it was discovered that John Mohawk was the murderer of Diver. 
The whites demanded Mohawk from the Indians to be tried and punished. 
The Indians replied that the white men who killed Nicksaw should also 
be arrested and punished. There was great excitement. The whites saw 
the Indians encamped across the river in large numbers and decided in 
the interest of peace to go slowly. Judge Huntington had a conference 
with Stigwanish, the Seneca chief. Stigwanish wanted justice for both 
sides. Did not want the Indian punished and not the whites and agreed to 
deliver Mohawk into custody if the murderers of Nicksaw were also 
arrested. Referring to the evidence found by himself, Major Carter and 
Campbell, he said: W hite man may lie, Indian may lie, snow cannot lie.” 
The final outcome of the matter was that there was no prosecution of any 
of the murderers. 

Of this Seneca chief who figured in this controversy General Paine 
said that he had the honesty of Aristides, the dignity of a Roman 
senator, and the benevolence of a William Penn. Lest we be too much 
taken with the poetic qualities of the “Noble Red Man,” it may be added 
that Stigwanish, while in a drunken frenzy, split open the skull of his 
infant child by a blow aimed at the head of his squaw, and was finally 
killed by a white man, whom he attempted to murder. 

It was about the time or a little before the organization of the county 
that the Legislature authorized a lottery to raise the money to clear the 
Cuyahoga and Tuscarawas rivers of logs and other obstructions to aid 
navigation. The managers of this lottery were Samuel Huntington, judge 
of the Supreme Court; Amos Spafford, John Walworth, Lorenzo Carter 
James Kingsbury and Timothy Doan. John Walworth was chosen as 
general agent for the sale of tickets. Sub-agents were appointed at 
Zanesville Steubenville, Albany, New York, Hartford, Connecticut, and 
Boston Massachusetts. The scheme provided that 12,000 tickets were to 
be soid at $5 each and prizes equalling $60,000, beginning with one first 
prize of $5,000 awarded. Twelve and one-half per cent was to be deducted 
irom the prizes to make up the fund for the internal improvement con¬ 
templated. The scheme failed and such money as had been received was 
returned without interest It is said that Judge Huntington moved to 
Pamesydle shordy after, despairing of the future of Cleveland. It is more 
probable that the Judge left to find a more healthful locality, as about 
Cleveland it was ague ague, ague. Just the same he was the second 
governor of Ohio and he lived for several years among the log cabins in 
the woods of Cuyahoga County. While much is written about the menace 
of fever and ague in Cleveland, it was not after all a fatal malady. The 
lack of harbor facilities along the lake was a greater menace. The violent 
storms with the rock bound coast were very destructive. In twelve vears 
out of eighteen deaths in Cleveland eleven were by drowning, 
tr, Li!t * he ^ounty was organized the Legislature appointed a committee 
to establish the seat of justice. The only place considered besides 
Cleveland was Newburgh. It was as large as Cleveland and more health¬ 
ful but the committee saw in the location on the lake at the mouth of the 
Ltn a T gre . a * er possibility. They selected Cleveland and presented a bill 
to the Legislature for their services, eleven days at two dollars per day, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


333 


twenty-two dollars. We have mentioned as among the early settlers here 
Stanley Griswold, who was appointed United States Senator by Governor 
Huntington, also an early settler. In a letter written to a friend, the new 
senator suggested that Cleveland would be a good place for a doctor to 
locate, saying there were no doctors in the county and none of any 
eminence within fifty miles. He suggested that a physician coming to the 
town would have to keep school part of the time. As indicating the 
political fiber of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County it can be said that we 
had a Governor and a United States Senator before we had a doctor. 
There were two mail routes touching Cleveland and Cleveland had the 
only postoffice in the county; Joseph Burke had the contract for the 
southern route. The circuit was Cleveland, Hudson, Ravenna, Deerfield, 
Warren, Mesopotamia, Windsor, Jefferson, Austinburg, Painesville and 
Cleveland. There was another route along the lake shore operated. 



Judge James Kingsbury 

Burke in his trips under his contract found no bridges, he crossed streams 
sometimes with canoes that were available, sometimes by floating across 
on a convenient log, sometimes by wading and was frequently obliged to 
swim, carrying the mail pouch above the water. This would imply that 
he made his trips or many of them on foot. 

Cuyahoga County was organized in May, 1810. Benjamin Ruggles was 
presiding judge of the Common Pleas Court, and Nathan Perry, Sr., 
A. Gilbert, and Timothy Doan were associate judges. The clerk was 
John Walworth; sheriff, Smith Baldwin. The first court was held in the 
store of Elias and Harvey Murray. There was one case of petit larceny, 
several for selling liquor (whiskey), to the Indians, and several for selling 
foreign goods without a license. The population of the county at this 
time was nearly 1,500, but there were settlements out of Cleveland 
larger than the county seat. Euclid had 15 per cent more votes at 
the election than Cleveland. This first court soon were engaged in the 
trial of Omic for murder, with Alfred Kelley as prosecuting attorney 
representing the State of Ohio, and Peter Hitchcock, assigned as counsel 
for the defendant. Alfred Kelley was then twenty-one years of age, and 
was the first practicing lawyer in Cleveland. At the regular county 


334 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


election Jabez Wright, Nathaniel Doan, Erastus Miles, were elected county 
commissioners, and Jabez Wright was chosen clerk of that body. Other 
officers elected were: Sheriff, Smith S. Baldwin; treasurer, Asa Dille; 
recorder, John Walworth; surveyor, Samuel S. Baldwin. No county 
auditor was elected as the duties were performed at first by the clerk to 
the county commissioners. This first election of county officers was 
probably not attended with the usual political activity that has characterized 
them in later years. 

Much of the fear of invasion by hostile Indians was dissipated by the 
victory of General Harrison at Tippecanoe (which occurred in 1811), 
only to return again with the opening of the War of 1812. When this war 
began a company of militia was organized in the county with headquarters 
at Cleveland. The captain was Harvey Murray; lieutenant, Lewis Dille; 
ensign, Alfred Kelley; sergeants, Ebenezer Green, Simeon Moss, Thomas 
Hamilton, and Seth Doan; corporals, James Root, John Lauterman, Asa 
Dille, Martin G. Shelhouse; drummer, David S. Tyler; fifer, Rudolphus 
Carlton. There were about fifty privates. Another company was organ¬ 
ized out around Newburgh, and was commanded by Allen Gaylord. An 
event which occurred shortly after hostilities began, August 23 1812 
created considerable interest. That was the meeting at Cleveland of 
General Wadsworth, with his aides, Benjamin Tappan and Elisha Whittle¬ 
sey, with General Cass, who came down from Detroit. Cass was on his 
way to Washington and he denounced the surrender of Hull in the most 
unmeasured terms. One rather curious fact in the history of this period 
and which we have not referred to in discussing the various townships was 
the feeling of security that the people entertained by moving eastward. 

1 his seemed to allay their fears, even a short remove. People in Cuyahoga 
County would move thirty or forty miles to the eastward, and enter 
cabins deserted by others, who had moved in the same direction Settlers 
came from Huron County and felt safe at the mouth of the Cuyahoga 
These were called refugees. The use of this term reminds us of the hen¬ 
pecked husband who left his muscular and belligerent spouse. When 
charged with having deserted his family he said: “I am not a deserter 
I am a refugee. It was after Hull’s surrender that the exodus eastward 
began Elisha Dibble was one who settled in Cleveland at this time of 

^xt 1 Ju° Vlng 'r- Afte : £ en \ William Henry Harrison took command in 
the Northwest General Perkins was stationed at the mouth of the Huron 
River He had a battle there with the British and Indians. A number of 
Cuyahoga men were in that battle. James S. Hill was killed and John 
Carleton and Moses Eldred wounded. During the war Samuel Dodge was 
engaged in building vessels for the government, both in the Cuyahoga 
River and at Erie The only regular troops to enter Cleveland during the 
Huntington 1 ° Sg Un< ^ er ^ a P tam Sholes, already referred to as building Fort 

The lack of harbor facilities along the lake, the violent storms and 
consequent danger to the shipping then of small tonnage, prevented a 
growth in commerce in that direction in any very considerable degree. 
Cleveland was a slow moving town, but the agricultural interests of the 
county were expanding from year to year. July 4, 1825, ground was 
broken at Cleveland for the Ohio Canal, a waterway exempt from loss 
by storms and consequent losses by reason thereof. In the fall of that 
year the Erie Canal was finished and boats began running from Albany to 
“a n d this prodded a line of cheap transportation in that direction 
About this time the first move was made looking to government action in 
bringing harbor facilities to Cleveland. This w! will discu™ later The 
first steamer Walk-in-the-Water had been wrecked but a new one, the 


i 



The Historical Society Building of Today 



















336 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Superior had been built and the next year another, the Henry Clay 
was launched. The marine interests were advancing in anticipation of 
better facilities. Travel over the roads to Cleveland increased. Many 
workmen were employed on the canal. The farmers brought in their 
products and exchanged them for imported articles. The Pennsylvania 
Germans, located in Orange, Solon, Warrensville, Bedford and Newburgh, 
drove in with their big wagons and wide tires, bringing flour and wheat 
which they exchanged for fish, salt, and other products not produced on 
the farm. The black salts, potash, and pearlash industries already referred 
to became active. 

In 1826 agitation for a new courthouse began and with it a lively fight 
for the removal of the county seat to Newburgh. This contest culminated 
at the election of a county commissioner to fill a vacancy caused by the 
death of one of the members of the board. Of the two remaining mem¬ 
bers, one was for Cleveland and one for Newburgh. The issue at the elec¬ 
tion was closely drawn. The candidate favoring Cleveland was elected by 
a small majority and the county seat question thus settled in favor of 
Cleveland. The next year, 1827, a new brick courthouse was begun and 
its location was on the southwest corner of the Public Square, opposite the 
present Hotel Cleveland. It was finished the next year, and in October 
of that year it housed the courts and county officials and continued in use 
for thirty years. It was a two-storv brick, facing north. Four years later 
a stone jail was built in the rear of the courthouse and because of its for¬ 
bidding appearance it was called the “Blue Jug.” This year there was 
organized in Cleveland a so-called colonization society designed to deport 
colored people to Africa. It was a part of a national organization and was 
interested by reason of the presence of the slaves in America, who had 
been made captive from Africa. It would seem that the organizers 
had at that time a premonition that the slaves would ultimately be made 
free and would want to go home. Of this society Samuel Cowles was 
president, Rev. Rudolph Stone, Hon. Nehemiah Allen, Datus Kelley, 
Josiah Barber, and Lewis R. Dille, vice presidents; A. W. Walworth, 
treasurer; James S. Clark, secretary, and Mordecai Bartley, delegate to the 
National Society. On July 4th, just two years after beginning work, the 
Ohio Canal was opened from Cleveland to Akron and there was a grand 
celebration. Noble H. Merwin brought the canal packet Pioneer from 
Buffalo, which after some difficulty, was launched in the canal. This 
loaded with the notables of Cleveland met on its trip southward the packet 
Allen Trimble, carrying the governor of that name on board. The 
entire canal through to the Ohio was completed in five years, but it is an 
interesting fact that this northern division was a paying proposition to the 
state as late as 1886, long after most of the canals were abandoned. 

From the completion of the canal the price of land advanced, but there 
was still much of wilderness in the county. In 1827 the county commis¬ 
sioners offered a bounty on wolf scalps and many of the townships supple¬ 
mented this reward. The prevalent crimes were horse stealing and coun¬ 
terfeiting. The horse thieves were well organized and the counterfeiters 
confined their activities largely to the production of counterfeit coins. 
Another thing of historical interest which arose in 1837 was the “Patriot’s 
War.” There was an effort of a portion of Canada to break off from the 
mother country. No one wanted another war with England and in order 
to show that there was no connivance with the movement on the part of 
this country, Henry H. Dodge was elected by the Legislature to preserve 
order on the border. This had the desired effect and without the assist¬ 
ance of this country the movement died out. In the hard times from 1837 
to 1840 it is said that a great majority of the business men of Cleveland 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


337 


failed, but from 1840, when the population of the county had increased 
to 25,500 and the City of Cleveland to over 7,000, prosperity set in, which 
has continued until we find today a county of over 1,000,000 souls. 

In the presidential campaign of 1840, Cuyahoga County gave a large 
majority for General Harrison as has been intimated. Cleveland being 
a port on the lakes was a great point for slave hunters. For a time they 
were in great favor with the authorities. Abolitionists were few and in 
great disfavor. In the spring of 1841 three negroes, accused of being 
runaway slaves from New Orleans were kidnapped in Buffalo, brought to 
Cleveland and lodged in the “Blue Jug.” Edward Wade and John A. 
Foote, pronounced abolitionists, were refused: admission to the jail., 
Thomas Bolton, who was not an abolitionist, but was indignant at this 
denial of rights, applied and was admitted and after talking with the 



Rocky River Bridge and Its Great Concrete Span 


prisoners, announced his intention of defending them. Public sentiment 
was strong against him, and there was much talk of tearing down his 
office. He persisted, defended the negroes and they were freed. This 
had great effect and from this time forth, no prisoners were denied a 
hearing and no slaves were taken back from Cuyahoga County by court 
order. The sentiment produced by the propaganda of the slave owners 
had been dissipated. 

When railroads came, like many advances in the equipment of civiliza¬ 
tion, they had a hard struggle for existence. Some of the charters were 
allowed to lapse. Men were slow to invest in what might prove a losing 
proposition. As an illustration in later years—the Marconi wireless sta¬ 
tions lost money for some years and investors had only the satisfaction 
of knowing that they were benefiting humanity, but those with a vision 
held on and their reward came. Among the men of Cleveland who were 
active in reviving the railroad interests in 1845 were Hon. John W. 
Allen, Richard Hilliard, John M. Woolsey, and Henry B. Payne. Leonard 
Case subscribed $500,000 towards the stock of the Cleveland, Columbus & 
Cincinnati Railroad, and Cleveland men subscribed over $2,000,000. Are 
we not ready to give credit to those, who in the dark days of the railroads 
of Ohio, had the courage and the foresight to invest, thus giving so great 




CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


338 


an impetus to the development of their state and the City of Cleveland. 
In 1848 the Cleveland, Painesville & Ashtabula Railroad was built. The 
shipping interests had steadily advanced. Investments in steamboats had 
steadily continued and in view of the disasters it is a marvel that it 
continued. There were thirty-nine plying on the lake before 1850 and 
Cleveland got her share of the trade. Out of the thirty-nine mentioned, 
thirty ended their career with fire or wreck. Before the railroads had 
advanced there was “brilliant” passenger traffic on the lake. But it had 
its dark clouds. There were thirty-nine lives lost in the wreck of the 
Griffith and 400 in the wreck of the Lady Elgin. 

In 1850 Cuyahoga County had a population of 48,099 and Cleveland 
17,034. Of the townships Bedford had 1,853, Brecksville 1,116, Brooklyn 
6,375, Chagrin Falls 1,250, Dover 1,102, East Cleveland 2,313, Euclid 
1,447. Independence 1,485, Mayfield 1,117, Middleburg 1,490, Newburgh 
1,542, Olmsted 1,216, Orange 1,063, Parma 1,329, Royalton 1,253, Solon 
1,034, Strongsville 1,199, Warrensville 1,410. Thus the urban w r as' 
making great gains over the rural population. February 1, 1851, the first 
train came to Cleveland from Columbus over the Cleveland, Columbus & 
Cincinnati Railway and in the same month the whole line was in opera¬ 
tion. In these later days the question of direct ocean traffic with the 
Great Lakes is discussed and predictions made that Cleveland will some 
day entertain in her harbor ocean vessels and ship direct to foreign ports. 
In the ’50s, the steamer Dean, built by Quayle and Martin of Cleveland 
for C. J. Kershaw of Chicago, sailed through the Welland Canal to Liver¬ 
pool, having loaded at Chicago. The next year after this effort and 
beginning of direct trade, a barque by the same builders loaded with 
staves and lumber, made the trip to Liverpool bringing back crockery, 
iron and other commodities. Before 1858 ten vessels were sent to and 
from Europe and Cleveland as follows: The D. C. Pierce to Liverpool, 
the Kershaw, Chieftain, Blackhawk to London by Pierce and Barney, 
the R. H. Harmon to Liverpool, the D. W. Sexton to London, the T. F. 
Warner to Glasgow by T. P. Handy, the H. E. Howe to Liverpool by 
H. E. Howe, the Correspondent to Liverpool by N. M. Standart, the Har¬ 
vest to Hamburg by C. Reis. The cargoes from here were principally 
staves and lumber. Some of these vessels were sold in Europe, but six 
returned with cargoes of crockery, iron and salt. This direct trade with 
Europe was broken off by the action of England in the Civil war and has 
never been resumed. The building of vessels of tonnage too great to pass 
through the canal has made it impossible until an adequate waterway shall 
be provided. 

Of the participation of the countv in the Mexican war, an event not 
closely allied with our history because far distant, there is little to record. 
The only citizen of note who participated, and who was prominent in 
Cleveland and Cuyahoga was O. J. Hodge. In 1852 following the close of 
the war, Gen Winfield Scott, the hero of that war, visited Cleveland as 
a whig candidate for the presidency. He was not a very tactful cam¬ 
paigner, nor a successful candidate. He stopped at the American House, 
where he made a speech from the balcony. One of the campaign songs 
of that year began: 8 


Our gallant Scott has made his mark 
On many a bloody plain, 

And patriot hearts beat high to greet 
The chief of Lundy’s Lane.” 


In that campaign, Gen. Sam Houston also visited Cleveland, wearing a 
broad-brimmed slouch hat and a vest made of the skin of a Texas wildcat 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


339 


with the hair on. He made a speech from the balcony of the Forest 
City House on the Public Square in opposition to General Scott. While 
in Cleveland he was an object of much interest. He was governor of 
Tennessee, then drifted into Texas, made it a republic, became its presi¬ 
dent, then its governor under the United States, and at the outbreak of 
the Civil war, resigned rather than take an oath to support the Southern 
Confederacy. Another historical event in this year was the coming to 
Cleveland of the funeral escort with the body of Henry Clay. It came 
from Buffalo on the steamer Buckeye State. The Light Artillery Com¬ 
pany under Capt. D. L. Wood fired a salute as the steamer approached 



The Courthouse in 1885 

the harbor. Among the funeral escort were six United States Senators, 
including Sam Houston. 

On September 10, 1860, the celebration of the anniversary of Perry’s 
victory was an unusual event in Cleveland, for it had as one of its 
features the unveiling of a statue to Commodore Perry on the Public 
Square. This was really a county affair, although it was under the 
auspices of the city council. Harvey Rice originated the idea, and in 
1857 he, with J. M. Coffinbury, J. Kirkpatrick and C. D. Williams, were 
appointed a committee to erect a monument to Perry. They made a con¬ 
tract with T. Jones and Sons, proprietors of a marble works, to erect a 
monument for $6,000 if so much could be raised by contributions, the 
work to proceed at contractor’s risk. Jones and Sons employed William 
Walcutt as sculptor and Carrara marble was imported from Italy. Sub¬ 
scriptions came in rapidly and the price was raised to $8,000. When the 
time came for the unveiling the council sent many invitations to people 
of prominence, including relatives of Perry and the state officers of Ohio 
and Rhode Island. The occasion was one of great interest. Governor 






340 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Sprague of Rhode Island, with his staff and members of the Legislature, 
were welcomed to Cleveland by Governor Denison of Ohio. The Provi¬ 
dence Light Artillery came with the Rhode Island party. There was an 
immense crowd and a great procession headed by J. W. Fitch, marshal 
of the day. In the parade were eighteen companies of militia, city, county 
and state officers. Oliver Hazard Perry, son of the admiral; Commander 
Stephen Champlin of the Scorpion, a cousin of Perry; Capt. Thomas 
Brownell, pilot of the Ariel in the battle, Masons, Odd Fellows and 
other civic societies. George Bancroft, the historian, delivered the prin¬ 
cipal address at the unveiling, which was conducted by the sculptor. After 
the formal exercises there was a mock battle on the lake in imitation of 
the Battle of Lake Erie. The monument was placed on the Public 
Square and since its dedication the two figures of the sailor boy and the 
midshipman were added. After being several times removed it now stands 
in Gordon Park overlooking the lake, protected by a fence recently pro¬ 
vided by a daughter of Harvey Rice, the original projector. The popu¬ 
lation of Cuyahoga County this year had reached a total of 77,206, and of 
this number Cleveland contributed more than half, 43,417. When this 
celebration was held the presidential election in which Abraham Lincoln 
was to be chosen was in progress. 

On April 14, 1861, the Cleveland papers had a full account of the 
assault upon Fort Sumter and the Cleveland Grays and Company D of 
the Cleveland Light Artillery were the first to take the field. To show 
how quickly the community responded, on April 23d Camp Taylor was 
established at Cleveland. Cuyahoga County furnished three companies 
of the Seventh Ohio. It had soldiers in sixty-two regiments of infantrv 
and cavalry and in seventeen batteries of artillerv. Nine thousand and 
sixty-eight soldiers were furnished to the Union army from the county. 

I his number includes the navy as well as the army. We can only give 
a brief account of the participation in the War of the Rebellion, as it 
would require a volume in itself and much has been written When it is 

£^™ b . er i ed i that the count 7 at the P rev i°us census had only a little over 
77 000 inhabitants and that the number eligible to military service was 
T 1 y a percentage of those, we can see how well Cuyahoga responded to 
the call to arms. As an instance of some of the lighter memories that 
have crept into that great tragedy, O. J. Hodge in his “Memoirs” gives 
a story which he calls “Henry in the War.” Henry M. Chapman of East 
Cleveland had served several terms in the Legislature before the war broke 
out. He had also had some military education as a member of an artillerv 
company of state militia. About the time enlistments began he had taken 
unto himself a wife He was a young man and never before realized what 
it was to be married He wanted to go to war but the wife said “No ” 
He argued that he had been playing soldier for several years and now 
there was an opportunity to put his knowledge of military affairs to some 
e :“t ” (les he owed it to his country. The wife insisted that as one 
of his brothers and two of hers had already enlisted the family quota 
was full. As Mr Hodge expresses it, then the civil war came on right 
at home in the Chapman household. One evening there was a meeting 
in the village called to secure volunteers for the army. Henry went 
and was followed by his wife, who took a seat bv his side. The speaker 
stirred up a good deal of patriotic emotion and Henry thought it would 
“PmTvY^U 0 ha X e h ' s first on the list, so he arofe and said 
A, “nu n C0Wn ' H,s Wlfe P uIled vigorously at his coat tail and 
said. Oh, Henry, give some one a cow who will go in your place ” Henrv 

"d L°id° Y “ r p7me y d hlS W j fC ’ S Pitkble '°° k that he turned t0 th" audience 
and said, Put me down for a cow to the first man that will enlist.” A 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


341 


young man arose and said he would take the cow, then another arose and 
said he would go for a cow, and then a third. Finally, Henry turned to 
his wife and asked if he should give any more. “Yes,” said she; “give 
away every cow on the place if that will keep you home.” 

In 1879 William J. Gleason, at a meeting of Camp Barnett Soldiers’ 
and Sailors’ Society, held in Cleveland, introduced a resolution as follows: 

“Resolved, That the president of the society be and is hereby 
directed to appoint a committee of three, whose duty it will be to 



Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument 


formulate a plan for the erection of a suitable monument or memorial 
to commemorate the Union soldiers and sailors of Cuyahoga County.” 
The resolution was adopted and President Charles C. Dewstoe appointed 
Comrades William J. Gleason, Edward H. Bohm and Joseph B. Moly- 
neaux as the committee. This was the beginning of the project that 
brought about the building of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Memorial and 
Monument on the Public Square, in Cleveland, which was built at a cost 
of $280,000. It was dedicated July 4, 1894, fifteen years after the passing 
of the resolution referred to at a soldiers’ meeting. Opposition to its 
location on the southeast corner of the Public Square, the place selected 



342 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


by the monument commission, brought much litigation and delay. The 
detailed account of all the steps taken with the difficulties encountered 
covers 350 pages of a large volume written by William J. Gleason, entitled 
Cuyahoga County Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument.” The original monu¬ 
ment commission consisted of: President, William J. Gleason; secretary, 
Levi F. Bauder; J. B. Molyneaux, J. J. Elwell, Edward H. Bohm, 
Charles C. Dewstoe, Levi T. Schofield, James Hayr, Emery W. Force, 
James Barnett, Dr. R. W. Walters and M. D. Leggett. At his post each 
day as custodian of the monument can be found Capt. J. B. Molyneaux, 
one of the few survivors of the original monument commission. It should 
be noted that the cost of the monument was provided by legislation and 
the money raised by a county tax. While the construction of the monu¬ 
ment was nominally under the direction of the county commissioners, by an 
act of the Legislature passed May 5, 1888, a commission of twelve were 
appointed independently of the county commissioners. Their design of 
having both a monument and memorial room that would be historical and 
educational was carried out. On the walls of the memorial room is carved 
the name of every soldier who enlisted from Cuyahoga County. 

Soldiers of prominence, who became identified with the history of 
Cuyahoga at a later period, are remembered. Gen. M. D. Leggett, who 
was a member of the monument commission, and grand marshal of the 
dedication parade, was a soldier of higher rank than any other. 
Gen. James Barnett, also on the commission, was the highest ranking 
officer in the war, who enlisted from Cuyahoga County. His bronze bust 
is placed over one of the doors, and that of Capt. Levi T. Schofield, the 
architect and sculptor, over another. Between the arches of the windows 
are busts of Col. W. R. Creighton, Lieut. Col. Mervin Clark, Maj. J. B. 
Hampson, Capt. William W. Hutchinson, Capt. William Smith, and 
Capt. W. J. Hayward, who were killed in action. Others of prominence 
are given due credit, but it is not the intention here, nor would it be pos¬ 
sible in the space allotted, to give a complete description of the monument 
or of the soldiers who deserve notice. Its place in the history of Cuyahoga 
County is a large one, and this monument, one of the most original in 
the country, is a history in stone and bronze of most graphic significance. 
We can only speak of the soldiers as an army sent out by this county in 
a cause that was of earth-wide significance. The outcome of the Civil 
war, which these soldiers fought to bring about, settled for all time the 
question of human freedom and popular government—that a nation “of 
the people, by the people and for the people” should not perish from the 
earth. 

“Loom on, O Column, while the stars shall shine! 

Wave on, O Banner, centuries are thine! 

Move on, O City, to thy future vast! 

Live on, O Country, while the world shall last!” 

The prompt response of the women to the call was as much to be 
praised. Five days after the President’s first call for troops, that is on 
April 20th, the women of Cleveland met in a general outpouring. They 
assembled for the purpose of offering aid, but were ignorant of what they 
could do or what would be of assistance to the soldiers in the field. This 
movement was duplicated in the townships. In a short time the Ladies’ 
Aid Society was formed in Cleveland and this soon became the head not 
only of Cuyahoga County but of Northern Ohio. The first officers of the 
society were: Mrs. Benjamin Rouse, president; Mrs. John Shelley and 
Mrs. William Melhinch, vice presidents; Mary Clark Brayton, secretary 
and Ellen Terry, treasurer. The first meeting is described in the opening 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


343 


lines of a history written and published by Mary Clark Brayton and Ellen 
F. Terry in 1869 entitled, “Our Acre and Its Harvest.” It begins with 
the following notice: “To the Ladies of Cleveland—The ladies of Cleve¬ 
land ready and anxious to take their full share in the exertions and priva¬ 
tions, if need be, imposed by the public perils, are promptly moving with 
a view to such an organization as may be most useful and effective. They 
propose also to offer their assistance to the committee of citizens to be 
appointed for the purpose of making provision for the wives and children 
of the brave men who have left and are leaving our city to fight the battles 
of our country. A meeting of the ladies will be held for this purpose 
to-morrow, Saturday, at 8 o’clock at Chapin Hall.—Extract from The 
Cleveland Herald of April 19, 1861. In response to this call, on the 
appointed hour on Saturday, April 20, 1861, only five days after President 
Lincoln’s first call for troops to suppress the great rebellion, Chapin Hall 
was filled with ladies who came together to inquire how the charity of 
woman could best serve her country in its impending peril. There were 
flushed faces, aglow with exalted feeling, troubled brows, shaded by 
vague apprehension, grave countenances, pale with nameless forebodings, 
eyes that sparkled with excitement, and eyes with a startled outlook or 
dim with gathering tears.” 

This was the beginning of the Northern Ohio Soldiers’ Aid Society. 
It had in a short time over 500 branch societies, thirty-eight of them in 
Cuyahoga County, and including all the townships and villages. It dis¬ 
pensed in bedding and clothing, hospital furniture and surgeons’ supplies 
and diet and delicacies nearly $1,000,000 in value, a larger sum then 
than it seems to us now, in the light of present resources and multiplied 
men of wealth. The story of its organization, its energy, its multiplied 
activities reads like a thrilling chapter of the war. Among incidents of 
its work was the Sanitary Fair originated and promoted as in many other 
cities to raise money for the work. This was inaugurated on February 22, 
1864. The building on the Public Square covered an area of 64,000 feet. 
The courthouse was utilized. Leland’s band was much in evidence. 
General Garfield spoke at the opening and was hailed as the soldier-states¬ 
man. The counties of the Western Reserve had especial booths and many 
townships of Cuyahoga County. The total receipts were over $100,000, 
as reported by the treasurer, T. P. Handy. Much of the lumber and labor 
was donated so that this amount was largely net profit. All this was used 
in relief work at the front, with the exception of that used in the depot 
hospital or soldiers’ home. In the early years of the war a building site for 
the home was given by the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad 
Company comprising 300 feet of the pier upon which the Union Depot 
stood, parallel with the depot. On this the Aid Society built a building 
200 feet long, battened outside and whitewashed inside. On the entrance 
was a sign: “United States Sanitary Commission—Soldiers’ Aid Society 
of Northern Ohio. Soldiers’ Home, Cleveland, Ohio. Sick and wounded 
soldiers, discharged soldiers awaiting pensions and back pay, or fur¬ 
loughed soldiers without money, will find lodging, a resting place and 
food, free of charge.” 

A runner with a badge of the Home was in attendance at the arrival 
of every train. The location, so convenient to the trains, avoided the neces¬ 
sity of conveying the sick and wounded up the hill and until the establish¬ 
ment of the Soldiers’ Home at Columbus, Ohio, a more permanent home, 
this was much in evidence and a great boon to many. There were ninety- 
three branch societies contributing to the soldiers’ home, including Bedford, 
Berea, Brecksville, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Center, Butternut Ridge, Chagrin 
Falls, Collamer, Dover, Dover Congregational Church, East Cleveland, 


344 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Euclid, Mayfield, Newburgh, Olmsted, Olmsted Falls, Parma, Rockport, 
South Rockport, Strongsville and West Rockport, and from all parts 
of Northern Ohio. The story of this soldiers’ home, remembered by 
many now living, is full of interesting incidents, humorous and pathetic. 
Years have passed and the memories are growing dim, but history can 
yet point to the patriotic women who in those years of trial stood con¬ 
stantly to their work. It would be a pleasure to write all their names 
into this history, as the names of the soldiers are recorded on the walls 
of the monument on the Square. Their work is not likely to be soon 
forgotten, for the panel on the south side of the shaft represents the 
Sanitary Commission, the Soldiers’ Aid Society and the Hospital Service. 
The figures shown are Mrs. Benjamin Rouse, president; Miss Mary 
Clark Brayton, secretary; Miss Ellen F. Terry, treasurer; Miss Sarah 
Mahan, clerk; and vice presidents, Mrs. John Shelley, Mrs. William Mel- 
hinch and Mrs. J. A. Harris. The hospital work is represented by Mrs. 
R. B. Hayes, Mrs. Peter Thatcher and a sister of charity dressing the 
arm of a wounded soldier. Under this panel is the official list of names 
of those who were active in assisting the officers of the commission during 
the war. 

Under the heading of the county and before the City of Cleveland 
had grown to such proportions as to seem to overshadow it, we can more 
easily refer to some of the men who became prominent in civil affairs. 
There was Samuel Huntington, who was a resident of the county when 
chosen by the Legislature as judge of the Supreme Court, but who had 
moved to Painesville when elected governor of the state. Reuben Wood 
comes next, chronologically, serving as governor in 1850 and 1852; then 
John Brough, the war governor, who was elected in 1864. There was 
Jacob Mueller, who served as lieutenant-governor in 1872 and Jabez W. 
Fitch, who served in 1878. By appointment, too, there were Rufus P. 
Ranney and Reuben Wood, who served as judges of the Supreme Court 
JudgeRanney being elected by the Le ^slature from Warren, Ohio, in 
1845, but later coming to Cleveland. There was Arnold Green, who was 
clerk of the Supreme Court in 1875, and Richard J. Fanning, who served 
later. Mrs. Virginia Green, the widow of Arnold Green, is now the 
active and efficient member of the Cleveland School Board. There was 
Alphonso Hart, who made Cleveland his residence after serving as 
lieutenant-governor. We have mentioned Stanley Griswold, the first 
United States senator. There was W. W. Armstrong, who was secretary 
of state, and Anson Smyth, the first superintendent of the Cleveland 
schools, who was state school commissioner from 1857 to 1863 The 
Common Pleas judges up to the adoption of the new constitution of 
18 Nathan Perry, Augustus Gilbert and Timothy Doan, chosen 

m 1810; Erastus Miles, Newburgh, and Elias Lee, Euclid, in 1814; John H. 
Strong, Cleveland, in 1817; Samuel Williamson, Cleveland, in 1821; Isaac 
Morgan, Brecksville, in 1824; Reuben Wood, Cleveland, in 1830; Watrous 
Usher, Olmsted, in 1831; Eben Hosmer, Newburgh, in 1834; Josiah Bar- 
wu-^ r ° 0k ^’ ir ! ^ 3 ? ; Samud Cowles, Cleveland, in 1837; Frederick 
Whittlesey, Cleveland, in 1838; John W. Willey, Cleveland, in 1840; Asher 
M Coe, Dover, in 1842 and Joseph Hayward, the same year; Thomas M. 
Kelley, Cleveland, in 1845, and Quintius F. Atkins, Cleveland, in 1849 
Ihe first elected judges under the new constitution were Horace Foote 
ihomas Bolton, Jesse P. Bishop, Samuel B. Prentiss, Robert F. Paine’ 
Darius Cadwell, G. M. Barber, J. M. Jones, E. T. Hamilton and T H Mc- 
Math. Benjamin Northrop, Strongsville, 1849, and Samuel Stark¬ 
weather, Cleveland, should be included in the list of judges who were 
duly elected by the Legislature. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


345 


The new constitution of 1851 provided for another court to have 
jurisdiction in probate and testamentary matters, the appointment of 
administrators and guardians, the settlement of accounts of administrators 
and guardians, and such jurisdiction in habeas corpus, the issuing of 
marriage licenses, and for the sale of land by executors, administrators 
and guardians, and such other jurisdiction in any county or counties as 
may be provided by law. This new judicial authority was designated as 
the Probate Court. It is rather interesting to note that there have been 
only four judges of this court in Cuyahoga County since its establishment, 
and yet the judges are elected by the people. The term of office is three 
years as fixed by the constitution. This seems to be a tribute to the good 
sense of the electorate of the county, that in this court where continuance 
in office is essential, where constant change would impair the work of 
the judge, the people have been so considerate. The consideration that 
has weighed most, however, has been the fact that the right men have 
been selected. The first probate judge was Flavel W. Bingham; the 
second, Daniel R. Tilden; the third, Henry Clay White, and the fourth 
and present judge, Alexander Hadden. 

Judge Bingham served only one term of three years. He was suc¬ 
ceeded by Judge Daniel R. Tilden, who, always required to make a cam¬ 
paign for reelection, served continuously for thirty-three years. Judge 
Henry Clay White followed him in 1888, serving seventeen years and 
until his death, Alexander Hadden being appointed to fill out the re¬ 
mainder of the term. Judge Hadden in all the added volume of business 
due to the increase of the city and county in population and wealth has 
continued to make the court a people’s court, where all could have a 
hearing and where full consideration has been given to the widows and 
orphans, and kindly care exercised to protect their rights and direct them 
in an economical adjustment of all the matters coming before the court. 
For many years no candidate has been pitted against him, when the elec¬ 
tion day arrives, a tribute which speaks for itself. Flavel W. Bingham, 
the first judge of the Probate Court, was prominent in Cleveland busi¬ 
ness circles, serving as president of the Society for Savings and being 
connected with other business enterprises. Daniel R. Tilden, who served 
for a third of a century, was a pioneer of the vigorous and spectacular 
kind. As a speaker at public gatherings he was much in demand and 
he delighted in reciting incidents of the «arly days and often spoke before 
the Early Settlers’ Association. He liked a joke and occasionally got 
one on himself. At one time he was called to decide upon the sanity 
of a lady who was brought into his court by a sister, O. J. Hodge acting 
as a friendly adviser. The judge was engaged in the trial of an important 
case involving a jury and stopped off to pass upon the case of the lady 
at Mr. Hodge’s request. The judge after interviewing the two sisters 
in his private room came out and said that the lady was crazy alright 
and proceeded to make out commitment papers, but Mr. Hodge informed 
him that he was committing the sane and not the insane sister. The 
judge retired for a further examination and returned, saying: “You 
are right, she is crazier than the other one.” The lady who brought her 
afflicted sister to the judge, when the mother of a large family, and with 
a large number of grandchildren, often laughed about the time when 
she came so near being sent to the asylum by Judge Tilden. As illustrating 
the old saying that the shoemaker’s children go barefoot, the will of Judge 
Tilden, which was probated during the incumbency of Judge White, 
whether by design on his part or not, was a very weak one and by its 
terms was invalid. 

fudge Henry Clay White was born in Newburgh, of Massachusetts 


346 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


parents, his parents coming to the county from that state in 1815. He 
was an orator of great power, and that gift together with his fine legal 
knowledge and his winning personality enabled him to wrest the probate 
judgeship from Judge Tilden after that gentleman had held the office 
for thirty-three years. He “stumped” in the campaign of 1860 that re¬ 
sulted in the election of Abraham Lincoln. He was generous to a fault 
and died poor after holding the office for seventeen years during a period 
when the office conducted on fees was supposed to afford a large com¬ 
pensation. 

The present judge, Alexander Hadden, came with his widowed 
mother to this county,. Euclid, when a boy of nine years of age. He 
can tell you of the district school where his education began, that university 
where there were no grades but where each “scholar” advanced accord¬ 
ing to his individual efforts, where in one room the advanced pupil heard 
in review the lessons he had gone over and the little tot listened to the 
recitations of the older ones and picked up information in advance, accord- 
mg to his ability. Completing his education at the high school of Collamer 
and at Oberlin College, where he graduated in 1873, he studied law with 
o paulding and Dickman in Cleveland, was assistant to and then prosecuting 
attorney, serving two terms. No greater tribute can be paid to his admin¬ 
istration of his duties as probate judge than to say that while an elective 
ottice it has under his administration become an appointive office. He is 
appointed by the people. The term is now four years instead of three. 
Judge Hadden is president of the Early Settlers’ Association and active 
in its councils. 

The history of the Probate Court of Cuyahoga County is one that 
we are proud to record. J 

In continuing the civil list of the county we note that there were four 
prosecuting attorneys appointed before the office became elective, Alfred 
Kelley, Leonard Case, Sherlock J. Andrews and Varnum J. Card; the 
latter was the first prosecuting attorney under the elective system. This 
office has been a stepping stone to higher preferment and in giving the 
prosecutors previous to the ’80s we note many names of prominence. 
They were Simeon Ford Thomas Bolton, F. T. Backus, Bushnell White, 
Stephen I Noble, Joseph Adams, Samuel Adams, Samuel Williamson, 
M S S ’r en u ?‘ ,SS ’ Albert T ' SlacIe ’ Charles W - Pinter, 
<T S ' rtT ameS ! 0nes ’ Homer B - D eWolf, William Robinson 
Samuel M. Eddy and John C. Hutchins. Not to mention those who 
served lately among whom were Carlos M. Stone, William B. Neff 
Alexander Hadden Theodore L. Strimple, Cyrus Locher, Harvey Keeler 
John A Cline, Alexander McMahon and others, we have an firav of 
talent of unusual ability. The present prosecutor, Edmund K. Stanton 
the mnfiY" “TriJ® reC ? rd ' Now servin g his second term he has gained 
that office ° f ^ ‘ re C ° mmUnity for his efficient administration of 

The office of county clerk, or clerk of courts, was filled by appoint¬ 
ment up to the adoption of the new constitution in 1851. The ^first clerk 
was John Walworth, then came Horace Perry, Harvey Rice Aaron 
Clark, Frederick Whittlesey and Robert F. Paine. The fust clerk elected 
under the new constitution was James D. Cleveland. Then follow John 
7,arr, Roland O. Noble Frederick J. Prentiss, Frederick S. Smith, Benja- 

P- Cogswell Wilbur F. Hmman, Henry W. Kitchen Levi F 
.e tcham, Harry L Vail William R. Coates, Charles P. Salem Charles S 
Horner and Edmond B. Haserot. The present clerk, George Wallace has 

-Sw'l| er Tr a depUty J n the ° ffice ’ havin S served under HarryL 

and William R. Coates. He is now serving his second term and E a 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


347 


popular official. He is the son of Chief Wallace of the Cleveland fire 
department. Many deputies deserve mention because of their efficient 
and long service. Munson S. Hinman, who was journal clerk through 
many successive administrations; Charles S. Whittern, now grand jury 
baliff, who was criminal clerk for many years and has been in the courts 
for a continuous period of more than a third of a century, and Harry L. 
Nicholas, entry clerk, whose duties are so efficiently administered, and 
who has continued under various administrations until he seems almost 
indispensable, are some of those whose names should be noted in connection 
with this office. 

Under the administration of William R. Coates an assignment system 
was inaugurated and its direction placed in the hands of V. A. E. Dustin. 
This has been improved in its operation and is now a separate department 
under the growing needs of the county courts. With Mr. Dustin from 
the start has been Mr. Charles L. Stevens, who is still active with him 
in the assignment room. Some years later a criminal assignment depart¬ 
ment was established and placed under the direction of Archie Kennel, 
who is now in charge. The two heads of the assignment system of the 
courts are also acting as jury commissioners, Mr. Dustin and Mr. Kennel 
providing names for the wheel from which the names of jurymen and 
jurywomen are drawn. 

The office of sheriff was filled by appointment of the Common Pleas 
Court until about 1834. Those serving by appointment in the order 
named were: Smith S. Baldwin, Harry Murray, Cleveland; Eben Hosrner, 
Newburgh; Enoch Murray, Cleveland; Seth Doan, Cleveland, and James 
S. Clark, Euclid. Those chosen by election, and down through the years 
there have been many sharp contests as party lines have been drawn for 
county officers, have been A. S. Barnum, Rockport; Seth S. Henderson, 
Newburgh; Madison Miller, Huron Beebe and Elias Root, Cleveland; 
Alva H. Brainard, Bedford; Seth A. Abbey, Miller M. Spangler, Cleve¬ 
land; David L. Wightman, Warrensville; James A. Craw, Edgar H. 
Lewis, Felix Nicola, John N. Frazee, Pardon B. Smith and John M. Wil¬ 
cox, Cleveland. Among those who have filled that office in more recent 
years have been Hugh Buckley, Edwin Sawyer, Charles C. Dewstoe, Wil¬ 
liam Ryan, Ferdinand Leek, Edwin Barry, George Mulhern, Joseph Mc- 
Gorray, A. J. Hirstius, William Smith, Ed Henratty and Charles B. Stan- 
nard, the present sheriff. 

There were four treasurers appointed by the county commissioners 
before the office became elective. They were Asa Dille, Cleveland; Eras- 
tus Miles, Newburgh; David Long and Daniel Kelley, Cleveland. Gaius 
Burke of Newburgh was the first county treasurer elected by the people. 
Then came Edward Baldwin, DeWitt C. Baldwin, Melancton Barnett, 
George C. Dodge, William Waterman, of Cleveland; Harvey Burke, of 
Newburgh; A. M. Burke, of Newburgh; Henry S. Whittlesey, Cleve¬ 
land; Joseph Turney, Newburgh, afterwards state treasurer; Frank 
Lynch, F. W. Pelton and Moses Watterson, of Cleveland. Among those 
in more recent memory are H. N. Whitbeck, of Berea; Joseph Shields, 
David Kimberley, R. S. Hubbard, John I. Nunn, Albert Spencer, J. P. 
Madigan, George Myers, P. C. O’Brien and John Boyle. The present 
treasurer is Ralph McBride. 

The county recorders were first appointed by the Court of Common 
Pleas. Those so appointed were John Walworth and Horace Perry. 
From 1834 the recorders were elected and, like all the county officers, it 
involved a political battle to gain the position. Those chosen in the order 
of their service for the first forty years or thereabouts were Joseph B. 
Bartlett, James B. Finney, William Richards, Charles Winslow, John 


348 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Packard and James Brokenshire, of Cleveland; Benjamin Lamson, of 
Bedford; Edward H. Bohm, of Cleveland, and Asa M. Vansickle, of 
Independence. In more recent memory are A. T. Anderson, Crist Sie- 
grist, E. J. Kennedy (by appointment), Morris Maschke (by appoint¬ 
ment), Paul Schreiner, Herman Baehr and Hosea Paul. The present 
recorder is Lyman Newell. 

The county surveyors were at first appointed by the Court of Common 
Pleas and there were three appointed before the office became elective, 
Samuel S. Baldwin of Newburgh, Edwin Foote of Brooklyn and Ahaz 
Merchant of Cleveland. At the first election Ahaz Merchant was chosen 
to succeed himself, then came William R. Coon of Dover, William H 
Knapp of Independence, J. C. Saxton of East Cleveland, Aaron Merchant 
of Qeveland, John M. Ackley of Brooklyn, and C. H. Burgess of Cleve- 
land J. D. Varney, J. T. Brown, Samuel J. Baker, William H. Evers, 
A. B. Lee, Frank A. Lander and William A. Stinchcomb, who served 
four terms. The present surveyor is Frank A. Lander, who is again 
serving, having been chosen after Mr. Stinchcomb had completed his 
fourth term; Mr. Lander is now on the second term of his new adminis¬ 
tration. The office is now more generally designated as that of County 
Engineer, the engineering work occupying the bulk of time of the office 
force. Road building, bridge building, and at times the construction of 
county buildings is the major part of the work. The laying out and con¬ 
struction of county ditches is a small item now. 

The office of county commissioner has been an elective one from the 
organization of the county. For many years the pay was small and men 
served as a public duty. In the list of those who have served the county 
are men of ability and standing in the community. Of recent years the 
compensation has been sufficient to attract men who might leave their 
business to devote their whole time to the work. When the first effort 
was made in the Legislature to increase the pay of county commissioners 
there was much opposition. One member declared that all anyone re- 
^u 1Ve «; 0Ve u a 1 ollar a c,a - v was robbery. In a great county like Cuyahoga 
the office has become a very important one. The road and bridge con- 
struction, aside from public buildings, involves the expenditure of millions 
t nrst county commissioners of Cuyahoga County were 

Jabez Wright, Nathaniel Doan and Erastus Miles. Then in the order of 
their service for the first seventy years were Philo Taylor, Samuel S. 
Baldwin, Samuel Dodge, Jared Pritchard, Theodore Miles, Samuel Wil- 
lamson, Thomas Card, Datus Kelley, John Shaw, Isaac M. Morgan 
Lemuel Hoadley, Simon Fuller, David Long, Noah Crocker Tonathan 
Fisher Philo Scovill Leverett Johnson, Job Doan, John B. Stewart 
Samuel Mcllrath, Seth S Henderson, David Harvey, Diodate Clark’ 
Moses Jewett, Vespasian Steams, Theodore Breck, Ezra Eddy, Alva H 

l Ve i sh ' Me 'aucton Barnett, Francis Branch, 
Wili am W. Richards, Azanah Everett, John Barnum, David Hoege 
Rgndall Crawford, Charles Force, Marius Moore, Charles Jackson John 
Geisendorfer, George A. Schlatterbeck, P. B. Gardner and Tosiah N 
Hurst. In the ’80s and later there were P. B. Gardner’ E. J. Kennedy’ 
Benjamin F. Phinney, A. A. Jerome, Wilbur Bentley, J. C'Alexander’ 
George A. Bennett, Patrick Kenney, T. D. Brown, Charles Harms H M 
Case T C Mattison, William H. King, John E. Asling, Fred R. Mathews 
R. J. McKenzie, John Vevera, William F. Eirick, John G Fischer’ 

Fred’ V Kohier' ’ 'Th^ T^’ " k T ' Andrews - J amea T. Kelly and 
hred Kohler. The present commissioners are John F GoldentLen 

Jerry, R. Zmunt and A. R. Dittrich. Mr. Goldenbogen was clerk of the 

Cleveland School Board before acting as clerk to the county commissioners. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


349 


The clerk to the county commissioners, appointed by them, performed 
the duties now devolving upon the county auditor in addition to other 
duties connected with the work of the board. The clerks so appointed were 
Jabez Wright of Cleveland, the first, then Erastus Miles, Newburgh; 
Nathaniel Doan, Cleveland; Samuel S. Baldwin, Newburgh; Theodore 
Miles, Newburgh; Samuel Dodge, Cleveland; L. B. Lee, Cleveland; John 
Shaw of Euclid, and Leonard Case of Cleveland. At the first election for 
county auditor Leonard Case was elected, the only change being that his 
title was changed from clerk to county auditor. Then came John W. 



Moses Kelley 

Willey, Cleveland; Orvill B. Skinner, Cleveland; Arvin S. Chapman, 
Samuel Williamson, James A. Briggs, D. R. Whipple, Albert Clark, 
Charles Winslow, William Fuller, Henry C. Hawkins, Ansel Roberts, 
William S. Jones, L. D. Benedict and Levi F. Bauder. The other audi¬ 
tors of more recent memory were William H. Brew, Charles Schellen- 
trager, Albert Akins, Robert C. Wright, W. E. Craig and Charles 
Prestien. The present auditor is John A. Zangerle, who has served 
through several terms and has made an enviable record through his efforts 
to systemize the listing of property for taxation. 

As the county grew and the volume of business increased, the old 
office of clerk to the county commissioners was restored and the county 
auditor relieved from the duties. The first clerk under the new order was 
Julius Dorn. Then in order William. F. Black, R. Y. McCray, John F. 


350 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Goldenbogen and Ed. G. Krause. The present clerk is A. J. Hieber, 
who began his duties under the present board. 

The office of county coroner was established by the constitution of 1803, 
but until the county grew to nearly its present magnitude was not looked 
upon as a very important office. The authority for holding inquests 
having been conferred upon justices of the peace, and the other principal 
duty of the coroner, that of serving writs, where the sheriff was an 
interested party, or acting in his stead under certain emergencies, was so 
little exercised that there was discussion for some years of abolishing the 
office, but the presence of a dense population, the advent of complicated 
machinery in the factory and the increasing use of trucks and automobiles 
on the street has increased the number of deaths by violence to such an 
extent that the office is one of great usefulness and thus plays an im¬ 
portant part in the civic administration of the county. The present coroner 
is Dr. A. P. Hammond, who is serving his first term. 



Reuben Wood 


In 1897 a court of insolvency was established in Cuyahoga County and 
iourts a The n fir t 0U ll ass ° c !f. ted with it- b «t with one judge over both 

ceeded hvThomt^ru °1 h,S C ° Ur ‘ was J ose P h C Bloch. He was suc¬ 
ceeded by Thomas Callaghan, who died in office, and Thomas Bushnell 

was a p pomted and served during the remainder of the term. He was 
followed in 1905 by Judge George F. Adams, the present judge who has 

Co e urt CO h n e bT;l y 1 T d ' ike Judge Hadde " of the Probate 

Court, he has in later years had no opponent at election time and is 

Police Comt°’’ nt Its by pe ?P* e '. The Juvenile Court is “The Children’s 

domestic relations ” Thl ' S ,d f? cal WIth , that of those styled “courts of 
aomestic relations. The work is painstaking and often involves minute 
investigation into families where crime is reported. 

q * Y? e Ion ^ 1 * st t ^ 10se wll ° have served the county in the State 
Senate, there are many who deserve especial mention. There was Samuel 
Huntington, who was governor; Alfred Kelley of canal fame Tabez 
Reuben Wood, who was also governor and who failed’ of the 
presidency by falling into bad company. It is related of him that at the 
democratic convention of 1852 to nominate a candidate for President he 
^ aS /? P°P ular choice and it only required the votes of the dele¬ 
gates from his own state to make his nomination sure. J. W. Gray, of 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


351 


the Plain Dealer, and Gen. H. H. Dodge, both of Cuyahoga, held out 
against him, and being from his own town their influence prevented his 
nomination, and Franklin Pierce was chosen. Years later Mr. Gray ex¬ 
plained that the reason for their opposition to their own townsman in 
that convention was that he trained with an element in the party called 
“Hunkers,” a democratic faction in New York that was distasteful to 
the better element of the party. There was John W. Willey, afterwards 
mayor, Frederick Whittlesey, John W. Allen, Richard Lord, of Ohio 
City, Moses Kelley, Franklin T. Backus, Henry B. Payne, afterwards 
United States senator, Harvey Rice, the founder of the public school 
system of Ohio, whose monument stands in Wade Park, John A. Foote, 
Theodore Breck, Samuel Williamson, David A. Dangler, Allan T. Brins- 
made and H. W. Curtiss of Chagrin Falls. Many of these also served in 
the lower house in the early days. Among the state representatives may 
be named Amos Spafford, James Kingsbury, Samuel S. Baldwin, John H. 
Strong, Lewis Dille of Euclid, Josiah Barber, Brooklyn; Elias Lee and 
William Coleman, Euclid; Leonard Case, Cleveland; Josiah A. Harris, 
Job Doan, Philo Scovill, John A. Foote, Leverett Johnson, William B. 
Lloyd, J. H. Vincent, Chagrin Falls; Thomas M. Kelley, Samuel Mcllrath, 
Cleveland; David Harvey, Strongsville; John W. Woolsey, Franklin T. 
Backus, John Gill, Arthur Hughes, Cleveland; George T. Barnum, Rock- 
port; James Tousley, Royalton; Erasmus D. Burton, Euclid; Isaac Bray- 
ton, Newburgh; Richard C. Parsons, who was speaker of the House and 
later member of Congress. It is related of him that he was given to 
elaborate toilets and that in his last campaign for Congress he was de¬ 
feated by the emphasis given to the fact that he wore patent leather shoes, 
a fact which alienated the labor vote. One story that went the rounds 
had to do with a reception that Mr. Parsons attended in Cincinnati. It 
was an evening affair and Parsons was dressed in immaculate white linen. 
An acquaintance at the reception whose mind and eyes were blurred by 
too frequent potations of liquor, ambled over to his locality and in a 
hoarse whisper said: “Why, Dick Parsons, ain’t you ashamed of yourself ? 
Go home and put on your clothes.” Just the same, Mr. Parsons, besides 
being a handsome figure on the lawn, was a very able representative. There 
was C. T. Blakeslee of Chagrin Falls, Franklin J. Dickman, afterwards 
judge of the Supreme Court; Charles H. Babcock of Brooklyn, one time 
speaker pro tern of the House of Representatives; Seneca O. Griswold, 
afterwards judge, and in the latter years of his life burgomaster in the 
little town in New England where he was born; Charles B. Lockwood, 
Morris E. Gallup, N. B. Sherwin, George A. Hubbard, William N. 
Hudson, William C. McFarland, George Noakes, Henry M. Chapman, 
John M. Cooley, Joseph M. Poe, John P. Holt, Orlando J. Hodge, speaker 
of the House of Representatives, civic leader, author, etc.; John Fehren- 
bach, Harry Sorter of Mayfield, Marshall L. Dempsey, Warrensville; 
John C. Covert, for many years editor of The Cleveland Leader and 
afterwards Consul to France; George H. Foster, L. A. Palmer of Rock- 
port. Of more recent memory were C. C. Burnett, J. J. Stranahan, James 
Mooney, E. J. Kennedy, Dwight Palmer, the blind orator; John P. Haley. 
Prominent in the Knights of Labor, once a powerful labor organization, 
Jere A. Brown, Milan Gallagher, Joseph C. Bloch, William T. Clark, M. S. 
Haynes, Morris Porter, Martin Dodge, E. W. Doty, Joseph H. Breck, 
William H. Clifford, O. D. Miller, J. W. S. Webb, H. C. Smith, H. C. 
Mason, who became speaker of the House; Charles W. Snider, Levi E. 
Meacham, Charles W. Parker, T. W. Roberts, Evan H. Davis, M. F. 
Bramley and others. Before the number increased to so large a quota 
it was possible in the space allotted to name them all. The present 


352 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


representatives are John Fischer, R. F. Edwards, L. L. Marshall, Dudley S. 
Blossom, John B. Dempsey, Mrs. Nettie Clapp, Gilbert Morgan, Henry C. 
Beck, Horace R. Sanborne, Albert Snow, Richard R. Hawkins, Dr. A. S. 
Cooley, Harry E. Davis, Charles Brenner and Walter C. Cole. Mrs. Clapp 
has the distinction of being the first woman to serve in the General 
Assembly of Ohio from this county and one of the first in the state. 

Of the state senators in addition to those already named, there have 
been Ferdinand H. Eggers, George H. Ely, David Morison, Vincent A. 
Taylor of Bedford, afterwards congressman; Charles Herrman, Wilbur 
Parker, Frank O. Spencer, Elroy M. Avery, H. W. Wolcott, and we 
may add John J. Sullivan, who served from Trumbull County but soon 
made his permanent residence in Cleveland, was United States attorney 
and is now judge of the Court of Appeals. We have not named all but 



Present County Courthouse 


wifi add the present senators, who are Joseph J. Rowe, George H. Bender, 
Maude C. Waitt L. C. Colhater, Chester C. Bolton and L. L. Marshall 
Miss Waitt is the first woman to serve in the state Senate from this 
county and it may be said of her and Mrs. Clapp, who served in the House 
that they were active capable representatives. While it has not been 
possible to make this list complete, mention should be made of the serv- 

't nator ?* C - Ho PP le > whose service in the Senate of Ohio was 
of the highest order. 

In connection with this reference to the civil list of the county in its 
legislative history mention should be made of John Bourke, who is 
president of the Press Correspondents’ Association of the capital He 

u rfu for ™ al ? y y f ars P° Iitical wr ‘ter for the News and Leader It 
should be noted also that David Abbott of Willoughby and Samuel Hunt¬ 
ington of Cleveland represented this county, which was then Trumbull in 
the constitutional convention of 1802, and that Sherlock J. Andrews was 
the representative in the constitutional convention of 1850 In the con¬ 
stitutional convention of 1873 we had a larger number of delegates, to 
wit, Sherlock J. Andrews, Martin A. Foran, Seneca O. Griswold, Jacob 

the wnrtr an f t^ m0S Tow ! lsend - T . hls constitution was never ratified and 
the work of the convention went for naught. 









THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


353 


In connection with an outline of the city and its growth and develop¬ 
ment from a struggling settlement to the great cosmopolitan municipality 
with a million inhabitants, some threads that have not been woven into the 
history of the county may be gathered up. It is somewhat difficult to 
draw the line. In the matter of public improvements, the county and its 
municipalities are one and yet have separate functions. Cuyahoga County 
has at the present time 400 miles of improved roadway. This does not 
include the streets of Cleveland but does include some 100 or more miles 
in villages of the county. The passion for forming villages has been 
permitted to have its way with very little restraint, and these struggling 
villages have depended to quite an extent on the county at large for the 



High Level Bridge, Showing Flats and Cuyahoga River 


improvement of the main roadways traversing them. This county has 
been more liberal in this respect than others. In some counties the county 
commissioners in constructing roadways stop at a village line. In the 
matter of bridge construction the question of the authority of the county 
and the city is often one that must be defined by the courts. 

Cuyahoga County in its 113 years of existence has much to show in the 
way of public improvements. The fourth courthouse, built at a cost of 
$6,000,000, is in keeping with the progress of events. Situated on the lake 
front, it commands a view of the shipping and port of Cleveland and 
accommodates the county offices and courts engaged in civil procedure. 
The third and fourth courthouses combined in one are still in use, accom¬ 
modating the grand jury, the Juvenile and Court of Insolvency, the county 
prosecutor’s office and the sheriffs office. Here also is the jail, which 
is too small for the present needs, but at the last election the proposition 
for a hall of justice which would include a jail and criminal courtrooms 
was voted down. In the old building or buildings is housed also the 




354 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


county superintendent of schools, Mr. Yawberg, and the county board of 
education, of whom we have spoken. 

In the matter of bridges great advance has been made over the days 
when Cleveland and Ohio City built, half and half, a float bridge over 
the river. The high level concrete and steel bridge crossing at about the 
same place is equipped with a subway for street car traffic and is still 
high enough to permit the passage of lake vessels up the river without the 
necessity of a drawbridge. It replaced the Superior Viaduct, a structure 
built by. the City of Cleveland, but which in the greatly increased traffic 
became inadequate, its drawbridge causing much delay. It is still standing, 
once the pride of the city but now condemned and out of use. The con¬ 
struction of the county bridge by its side was first proposed by W. F. 
Eirick, when county commissioner, and to him the credit belongs for 
bringing forth the proposition that it was within the province of the county 
to build, it. The courts decided in favor of the position maintained by 
Mr. Eirick and the beautiful structure costing $4,000,000 came into being. 
The original plans were drawn by County Engineer Frank R. Lander, but 
the bridge was built when Mr. W. A. Stinchcomb was county engineer 
and under his direction and under the plans approved by him. Other county 
bridges of note are the Denison-Harvard bridge and the Brooklyn bridge 
and the Rocky River bridge already referred to in a previous chapter. 
A bridge at West Seventy-third Street is now under construction by the 
county, which will cost when completed $800,000. 


CHAPTER XXVII 
THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 
Early History 
Municipal Government 

As a municipality, prior to the organization as a city, Cleveland had 
nine chief magistrates. They were called presidents and had the powers 
afterwards conferred upon mayors. They were Alfred Kelley, Daniel 
Kelley, Horace Perry, Leonard Case, E. Waterman, Samuel Cowles, 
D. Long, Richard Hilliard, and J. W. Allen. These were the village heads. 
The police department at first consisted of John A. Ackley, who was the 
first marshal. Later on some deputy marshals were appointed to assist in 
preserving order, but the township government was efficient, and its part 
in the peace programme was quite general. The population of the munici¬ 
pality was a little over 1,000, being on a par with Columbus and Dayton. 
Each of these cities in 1830 had about the same number of inhabitants. 
Cleveland had the advantage of being a lake port, and the populace, as 
Dooley would put it, were progressive. The tax duplicate was small and 
there was little to do with, but the New England thrift was much in evi¬ 
dence. Connecticut led in the very early residents of the town, but 
Massachusetts and New York were a good second. We can mention a 
few of the Connecticut men connected with this first attempt at municipal 
government, J. W. Allen, Sherlock J. Andrews, E. I. Baldwin, Alva Brad¬ 
ley, Francis Branch, Caius Burk, Ahira Cobb, Edwin Cowles, John 
Crowell, John H. Devereaux, Seneca O. Griswold, and Benjamin Har¬ 
rington. This first form of government continued until 1836. The lake 
traffic received the first attention. The sandbar at the mouth of the river 
was a serious hindrance to lake traffic. The Hamlet of Brooklyn, across 
the river, was, although smaller, actively interested, but with an intense 
spirit of rivalry. Although small, it was full of enterprise. It is related 
that when H. Pelton opened a store over there in competition with that 
of J. Barber, the townspeople were so interested that it became an im¬ 
portant event of the town. This spirit of rivalry, especially with the larger 
town across the river, continued for long and down to a time much later 
than the union of Ohio City and Cleveland. 

In 1825 Congress, being importuned by citizens from both sides of the 
Cuyahoga, the east side and the west side, appropriated $5,000 for harbor 
improvements. The money was given to the collector of the port, Ashbel 
Walworth, without any survey being made and without any instructions 
as to how it should be used. Mr. Walworth was not an engineer and had 
no practical knowledge along those lines. He had some theory in his mind 
and was free to carry it out. He noticed that the sand piled up when the 
wind blew from the east, and concluded to build a pier out into the lake 
from the east side of the mouth of the river. This, he assumed, would 
remedy the trouble, as the sand would then be carried out into the lake by 
the force of the water of the river, and the channel be kept clear. He 
built a pier in accordance with this theory 600 feet out into the lake. He 

355 


Vol. 1—12 



The Perry Day Parade 



















THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


357 • 


was not an expert, thus it was suggested that he was using common sense 
methods. The pier when constructed produced no satisfactory results. 
The sand piled up at the mouth of the river as before, and there was no 
increase in the depth of the water in the channel. In the fall of 1825 a 
mass meeting of citizens was held and the matter discussed. The town 
meeting was brought to the West from New England and often called into 
action. At-this meeting $150 was raised to defray expenses, and Mr. 
Walworth was authorized to go to Washington to secure, if possible, 
another appropriation. Congress was not favorably inclined towards the 
proposition. They did not consider the location of sufficient importance 
to warrant the expenditure. Only thirty or forty vessels came to this 
port in the course of a year. Hon. Elisha Whittlesey was then a member 
of Congress from the district of which Cuyahoga County was a part. He 
immediately began working, in season and out, to secure the appropriation 
asked for. After a long struggle he got through a measure carrying an 
appropriation of $10,000, but too late for active work that year. The 
Government now decided to take charge of the work. In 1827 Maj. T. W. 
Morris, at the head of the United States Engineering Corps, came to 
Cleveland and made a survey and reported a plan which was adopted by 
the Government. His plan provided for changing the course of the river, 
for building a pier east of the pier built by Mr. Walworth and thus com¬ 
pelling the river to flow between these piers out into the lake. He built 
a dam across the river opposite the south end of the Walworth pier. This 
dam was not closed until fall, but for the time being, it interfered with 
the passage of boats up the river. The lake captains were very angry. 
They thought the plan absurd, and abused all connected with it in regula¬ 
tion lake captain language. Their epithets were applied to the workmen 
and the works in equal volume. The schooner Lake Serpent entered 
the river and when ready for a voyage out, found itself shut in between 
the dam and a sandbar at the river mouth. The captain hired men to 
dig through the bar before he made the voyage. More profanity! When 
the fall rains came the river rose, the dam was closed, and teams of oxen 
with scrapers, and men with pick and shovel assisted it in clearing the 
new channel. When a small opening was made the river broke through 
and the rest was easy. When the Lake Serpent came back it entered 
the river by the new route and the channel was constantly deepening and 
enlarging. By this feat of engineering several acres of the Township of 
Cleveland were left on the west side of the river. The corporate limits 
of the city, however, only extended to the river. Major Maurice’s plan 
was a success. The next year he began the eastern pier. Both piers 
were carried back through the sandy shore to the river and out into the 
lake, but not for $10,000. Successive appropriations were made until by 
1840, $70,000 had been expended. The opening of the canal in 1827, the 
throwing up of so much malarial soil in its construction, caused an 
epidemic of bilious fever and an increase of fever and ague. Thus the 
progress of civilization often carries with it elements of disaster. The 
lake traffic, so very essential to this struggling settlement, took many 
lives before the construction of harbors and the later safeguard of the 
weather bureau; the canals, another great advance, brought disease and 
death in another way. The toll of the single track railroads as at first 
constructed was very great, and the advent of the motor vehicle, in its 
death dealing capacity, has led all the rest. 

In 1828, before Cleveland was a city, a commodity now known as a 
necessity was first introduced, and its advent in town, as we look back to 
it now, and the attitude of the people in regard to it, is interesting history. 
The New Englanders, who dominated to quite an extent this new com- 


358 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


munity, were also “from Missouri,” they had to be shown. In this year 
mentioned, Henry Newberry, father of J. S. Newberry of geological fame, 
shipped to Cleveland a few tons of coal by canal. He attempted to intro¬ 
duce it as a fuel. A clever agent loaded a wagon with the product and 
drove about town. He was unable, after a day of hard work and much 
argument in which he expatiated upon its good qualities, to sell a single 
pound. No one wanted it. Wood was cheap and plenty, and'housewives 
objected to the smoke and the dirt creating qualities of the new fuel. He 
would occasionally induce some man to take a little as a gift. At nightfall 



Strickland Block in 1858 


he drove up to the Franklin House, kept by Philo Scovill, and persuaded 
him to buy a portion of his load. He demonstrated its heating capacity 
by putting some grates in the barroom stove. This was the beginning of 
the coal business in Cleveland. Soon manufacturers were convinced of 
its good qualities, and large shipments were made, but it was a long time 
before it was used in the homes. 

Two years after this the United States Government built a lighthouse 
on the bluff at the north end of Water (East Ninth) Street. It was 135 
feet above the lake level and cost $8,000. The serious epidemic of sick¬ 
ness abated after a couple of years, and not till then did Cleveland take 
on real growth. In 1830, under the administration of Richard Hilliard 
the common council ordered the grading of Superior and Ontario streets’ 
Superior out to the present East Ninth Street, which was the eastern limit 
of the corporation, and Ontario as far as Central Market. 











THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


359 


With a lighthouse and a river harbor, with a canal now opened to the 
Ohio River, with health returning, with money in abundance although 
paper, with new manufacturing establishments, among them an iron foun¬ 
dry built and operated by John Ballard and Company, with the Buffalo 
Purchase on the west side, a company aiming to lay out a city over there, 
Cleveland and Brooklyn began to put on city airs. There were still the 
swinging signs before the taverns. A guide board at the corner of Ontario 
and the Public Square indicated the distance to Painesville and Erie on 
the east, and Buffalo, Portsmouth on the south, and Detroit northward. 
A census of the town taken in 1835 indicated a population of 5,080, 
showing that it had doubled and more in two years. 

A little chagrined that Brooklyn, across the river, had beaten them 
and established Ohio City a few days ahead, thus becoming the first 



Perkins Block, 1861 


city in the county, the Cleveland of their dreams was brought into being 
by the citizens. The first mayor was John W. Willey, who was elected in 
1836. The city as first established had three wards. Richard Hilliard, 
Joshua Mills, and Nicholas Dockstader were aldermen; Sherlock J. 
Andrews was president of the council; Henry B. Payne was the attorney 
and clerk; Daniel Worley, treasurer; John Shier, civil engineer; Ben¬ 
jamin Rouse, street commissioner; George Kirk, marshal, and Samuel 
Cook, chief of the fire department. In the first forty years of its cor¬ 
porate life Cleveland had twenty-one mayors, John W. Willey, Joshua 
Mills, Nicholas Dockstader, John W. Allen, Nelson Hayward, Samuel 
Starkweather, George Hoadley, Josiah A. Harris, Lorenzo A. Kelsey, 
Flavel W. Bingham, William Case, Abner C. Brownell, William B. Castle, 
George B. Senter, Edward S. Flint, Irvine U. Masters, Herman H. 
Chapin, Stephen Buhrer, Frederick W. Pelton, Charles A. Otis, and 
Nathan B. Payne. As president of the city council under Mayor Payne 
was John H. Farley, afterwards mayor of the city. Covering this period 
we note some items of interest. In the administration of the first mayor 
the American House was opened, and the Government bought land for 
the Marine Hospital, which was built later. In that of J. W. Allen, the 
first copy of the Cleveland Plain Dealer appeared with J. W. Gray as 




360 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


editor, and Superior Street was paved with plank. While George Hoadley 
was in office the Weddell House was opened, to be for a long time the 
finest hotel in the city. When Lorenzo A. Kelsey was mayor in 1842 the 
Board of Trade was established, which developed into the Chamber of 
Commerce. In Flavel W. Bingham’s administration the first gas was 
furnished to the city. Mayor Case was in office when, on February 22d, 
the celebration of the opening of the railroad to Cincinnati was held. 
When Mayor Abner C. Brownell was on his first term, the Homeopathic 
College, located in a block at the southeast corner of Ontario and Prospect 
streets, was destroyed by a mob, and the Academy of Music on Bank 
(West Third) Street was built. During his service also Cleveland was 
given a new charter, and the first police court was established. The 
Cleveland Library was then established, but there was no tax levy made 
for its support until 1867. Another public enterprise of vital importance 
was the starting of a waterworks, and commissioners were appointed by 
Mayor Brownell. We now come to Greater Cleveland. The city on the 
east side of the river was outstripping the one on the west side. Ohio 
City was full of pep. It had fathered the building of the canal extension 
referred to in a previous chapter, but the population of Cleveland was 
much ahead. Land speculation was rampant. City lots in Cleveland 
were going up in price, and agitation for annexation or a union of the 
two cities came to the front. Both cities had passed through the period 
of inflation and the collapse following in which the Bank of Lake Erie 
stood the storm, though many of its customers failed. This bank fore¬ 
closed either by legal process or agreement and became the largest land 
owner in the city. When its charter expired in 1842, it wound up its 
business. From 1836 to 1840 there was little increase in the population of 
either city. Manufacturing was coming, as W. A. Otis had established 
an iron works, and several thousand tons of coal were received over the 
canal annually. Superior Street and some others had been paved with 
plank but it was not a very satisfactory roadway. The planks became 
warped and worn, and down on River Street the high water often washed 
them away. They next tried limestone, and that crumbled, and the first 
successful paving was that of Medina sandstone. The population of 
Cleveland in 1845 was 9,073. The steamer trade made the hotels pros¬ 
perous. Churches sprang up and education was not neglected. The 
Cleveland Free High School was the first institution of the kind in the 
state. Ohio City was spreading west and north, and Cleveland east and 
south. The lots in Ohio City were large, usually containing two acres, 
•and Cleveland lots were smaller. The population of Cleveland in 1850 
was over 17,000, while that of Ohio City was less than 4,000. Cleveland 
was at that time a commercial city primarily. The chief business of the 
town was to receive produce from Northern Ohio and ship to the East 
and get manufactured articles in return. There was an attempt to bring 
copper from Lake Superior and smelt it here, but it did not continue. 
i j t ^ ere wer ? over 900 ships arriving with cargoes at the port 
i5 Ve an< ^ an( * a St ^ l ar & er number of steamboats with passengers, 
and this only sixteen years after the first steamer, the Walk-in-the-Water’ 
made its trial voyage. 

... T A he r P rop ^? iti ° n of annexation was taken up by the appointment of 
W A. Otis, H. V. Wilson, and E. T. Backus, commissioners for Cleve- 
lanti and W. B. Castle, N. M. Standart, and C. S. Rhodes, commissioners 
tor Uhio City, these commissioners arranged terms of annexation as 
follows : The four wards of Ohio City to be the eighth, ninth, tenth, and 
eleventh wards of Cleveland, and the west side to have at all times as 
large a proportionate number of wards as it had of population. The 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


361 


property of both cities was to belong to the joint corporation, which was 
to assume the debts of both. The question was submitted to the voters 
on the first Monday of April, 1854. The vote in Cleveland stood 892 
for and 400 against the proposition, and in Ohio City or the City of 
Ohio, as it was officially known, 618 for and 258 against. Thus it carried 
by a larger majority in Ohio City. The formal ordinances were passed 
by the councils of the two corporations, in Cleveland June 5, 1854, and in 
Ohio City the next day. This added quite a population to the city, but 



William A. Otis 


there were no further annexations of territory until after the Civil war. 
In 1861 petroleum was discovered in Western Pennsylvania, and soon 
after the Standard Oil Company began operations in Cleveland. This, 
however, will be discussed later. In the election following the annexation 
of Ohio City, W. B. Castle, the last mayor of Ohio City, was elected 
mayor of Cleveland. In his administration the City Infirmary was com¬ 
pleted and the New England Society organized. In 1857, under the sec¬ 
ond administration of Samuel Starkweather, occurred the burning of the 
Old Stone Church on the Public Square. This year also land was bought 
by the city for the Central Market. These are merely running notes re¬ 
viving memories of the period. In 1860 the East Cleveland Street Rail¬ 
way Company was organized, and two years later the volunteer fire 
companies disbanded, their place being taken by the more efficient depart¬ 
ment of paid firemen. In 1865 Charity Hospital was opened, and two 




362 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


years later the Western Reserve Historical Society was founded. In this 
year, under the administration of Mayor Stephen Buhrer, a new addition 
to Greater Cleveland was made. A thriving village had grown up between 
Willson Avenue (Fifty-fifth Street) and Doan’s Corners. It was 
called East Cleveland. Annexation was agitated and commissioners ap¬ 
pointed. The commissioners for Cleveland were H. B. Payne, J. P. Rob¬ 
inson, and John Huntington, and for East Cleveland, John E. Hurlbut, 
John W. Heisley, afterwards Common Pleas judge, and William A. Neff. 
It was agreed that East Cleveland was to become the sixteenth and sev¬ 
enteenth wards of Cleveland, and that the East Cleveland High School 
should remain as before until changed by a vote of three-fourths of the 



City Hall, 1875 


common council. This provision had to do with the retention of Elroy 
M. Avery as principal of the East Cleveland High School, who was an 
educator of high standing. The ordinance of annexation was passed by 
the Cleveland council October 24, 1867, and by the council of East Cleve¬ 
land five days later. During Mayor Buhrer’s term the Bethel Mission, 
located at the foot of Superior Street and devoted largely to the relief of 
needy sailors, was incorporated. From about this period or a little later 
the iron and oil industries had developed to such an extent that Cleveland 
began to be considered a manufacturing city. The Civil war, as has been 
said found Cleveland a commercial city and left it a manufacturing city 
Among the disadvantages coming with the advent of large manufac¬ 
turing establishments and the increase of population was the contamina¬ 
tion of the water supply. It was proposed to go out farther into the 

Q 7 i an r d tunnel was be S un - T Ws was completed in 

1874. In 1869 Lake View Cemetery was laid out, and in 1871 the work- 
house on Woodland Avenue was opened to receive offenders and as 
another item of historical interest, the Early Settlers’ Association Was 
organized with Harvey Rice as its president. In the following year oc¬ 
curred the epidemic among the horses, called the epizootic, when, not 








THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


363 


having learned to harness electricity and gasoline to labor, the cars stopped 
running in the streets, and business was at a standstill. In this horseless 
age we can look back upon this episode with a new interest. Perhaps the 
realization brought so forcibly before the people at that time, of their 
dependence upon that faithful servant, the horse, had its effect, for the 
next year the. Cleveland Humane Society was organized. In 1873 the 
Cleveland Bar Association was organized. This organization in the present 
year held a banquet celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of its formation. 



West Side Municipal Market PIouse 

In 1873 also another boost was given to Greater Cleveland by the annexa¬ 
tion of its early rival, Newburgh, on the south, which became the 
eighteenth ward of the city, and about this time the city limits were ex¬ 
tended to include a large belt of territory from the townships of East 
Cleveland and Brooklyn. The population of the city had now reached 
100,000. 

We have omitted to mention as one of the first acts of the city govern¬ 
ment under its first mayor, John W. Willey, the grading of the Public 
Square. This was a notable change made in the transition from a village 
to a city government. The gift of Boston Common to the City of Boston, 
Massachusetts, provided that it should remain in its natural state, and the 
City of Boston has no right to grade or put streets through its territory, 
but there was no such restriction attached to the Cleveland public square. 
W. A. Wing, afterwards a resident of Strongsville, was given the con¬ 
tract of grading. The square was quite uneven, a cow pasture, and the 








364 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


improvement was very marked. Where the Society for Savings Building 
stands, on the north side, there was a low marsh providing a convenient 
place for depositing the surplus earth. When the great building was con¬ 
structed in later years there was difficulty in getting a suitable foundation 
and this was provided by laying an immense body of concrete reinforced 
by railroad iron of track length and this crossed tier upon tier. 

Since the annexation of Ohio City in 1855 there have been twenty- 
three mayors of the city, ten of those first elected serving only their one 
term of two years. W. G. Rose, R. R. Herrick, John H. Farley, George 
W. Gardner, Robert E. McKisson, Tom L. Johnson, Newton £). Baker, 
and Harry L. Davis, among the later mayors, serving for longer periods. 
The water supply came from wells, springs and cisterns until, under the 
administration of W. B. Castle, the Kentucky Street reservoir was built 
and the water pumped in from the lake to be distributed in pipes through¬ 
out the city. Thus the modern mound builders came into existence, their 
earth works constructed for a different purpose than those built in pre¬ 
historic times. 

Up to the administration of Mayor Castle, also, the marketing was 
done on the streets. In 1857 action was taken by the city council, and the 
Central Market established. After sixty-six years of existence it is now 
in active operation, and its history, if told in full, would fill a volume. 
Like the old French Market of New Orleans, it could be made the central 
theme of many an interesting story. A part of a cosmopolitan city, it 
speaks in many languages, but all closely interwoven with the official lan¬ 
guage of the United States. 

The mayors of Cleveland during the Civil war were Edwin S. Flint, 
Irvine U. Masters, and Herman H. Chapin. The activities of that period 
were many, but the great problem of saving the Union was foremost in, 
every mind, and local problems to a large extent were crowded to the rear. 
Stephen Buhrer, whose term began in 1867, served for four years. He 
was followed by Frederick S. Pelton, and he by Charles A. Otis. It may 
be said of the three mentioned that they were men of high character and 
prominent in the business world. Their service to the city was marked 
by high ideals. Each looked upon his service as a public duty to be per¬ 
formed for the interests of the city they were called upon to serve. 
Nathan B. Payne, who followed Mayor Otis, was fortunate in having as 
president of his city council, John H. Farley, and here Mr. Farley studied 
the problems of the growing city which he was later to come in contact 
with in the mayor’s chair. George W. Gardner, Commodore Gardner, 
was president of the city council during the administration of Mayor R R* 
Herrick, and later became mayor of the city. Others who have served as 
Cleveland’s mayor have first had experience in another capacity in the city 
government. Thus the city has not been in the hands of inexperienced 
men, but its affairs administered by men of high standing who have 
studied the problems of city government. To the municipal government 
then we must give due credit for that wonderful transformation that has 
brought forth from a little settlement on both sides of a sand-choked 
river a modern industrial city of 1,000,000 inhabitants, with a land value 
and producing manufactured products valued at 

$400,000,000 annually. 

Following the first administration of John H. Farley, from ’83 to ’85 
came the first administration of George W. Gardner. ' He was followed 
by Brenton D. Babcock. Mr. Babcock was a successful business man but 
not ambitious for public office. He was drafted into the race for m’avor 
agamst William M. Bayne, who was charged with being a politician as 

*vd served efficiently as the head of the city council and was active in 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


365 


politics. The slogan of a business man for mayor proved effective, and 
Mr. Babcock was elected. The friction attending the duties devolving 
upon the office of mayor were not attractive to the new mayor. It is re¬ 
lated of him that on the first week of his term he kicked several appli- 



Courtesy of the Cleveland Leader 


Fourth of July, 1875, in Cleveland 
Notice the horse-drawn vehicles. The automobile was not known and yet 
there was traffic congestion. 


cants for position out of his office, and said if the Lord would let him live 
to the end of his term he would never hold public office again, and he 
lived through and kept his word. This incident is not given here to dis¬ 
parage Mr. Babcock, who was a most excellent man and a good mayor, 
but to show the trying duties attending the office. In Mr. Babcock’s term 
the Central Viaduct at the foot of Superior Street was completed and 








366 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


dedicated, the first great structure crossing the Cuyahoga, and at that time 
of world-wide interest. It was the first great physical tie uniting the east 
and west sides in one, as they had previously been united politically. 

In 1882, during the administration of Mayor R. R. Herrick, Wade 
Park was accepted by the city, having been given to it by J. H. Wade, 
but with certain conditions that must be complied with on the part of the 
city. The next year, under the second administration of Mayor William 
G. Rose, the title to Gordon Park was given to the city, another large 
acquisition to the park system. Under the administration of Mayor Rob¬ 
ert Blee, West Cleveland and Brooklyn were annexed to the city, and 
another large increase of territory and population acquired. 

In 1860 the East Cleveland Street Railway was organized with J. H. 
Hardy as its president. This was the first street railway in the city. Like 
similar enterprises in growing cities it was a private enterprise operating 
under a franchise from the municipality. As the city grew, the value of 
the franchise increased in a corresponding ratio, and the terms of renewals 
and of additional franchises became important, and so the street railways 
got into politics. From the building of the East Cleveland Street Railway 
other franchises were given and more and more invested. Aside from 
getting good service the people of the city were interested in getting the 
lowest possible rate of fare. Robert E. McKisson, who succeeded Mayor 
Blee, began an assault upon the street railways in his campaign for mayor 
and advocated lower fare. He has been credited with being the first advo¬ 
cate of 3-cent fare. This naturally was a taking proposition with the 
people not interested otherwise in the roads. Mr. McKisson was a young 
man, born on the Western Reserve. Coming to Cleveland he practiced 
law and in a few years was elected to the city council. He immediately 
became prominent in that body. He advocated with great spirit the col¬ 
lection and disposition of garbage, which up to that time had been thrown 
into back yards, buried, burned or otherwise disposed of in a manner that 
became a menace to the health of the citizens. Other measures of public 
import which he championed brought him into prominence. He made a 
vigorous campaign for mayor, and was opposed for the nomination by 
the adherents of M. A. Hanna, who was a large owner in many enterprises 
in the city, including the street railways. The republican party was then 
the dominant party in the city, and it was soon divided into the Hanna 
and McKisson factions. This condition existed during the four years of 
Mr. McKisson’s administration and for some time afterwards. The con¬ 
test between these two factions became so bitter that when Mr Hanna 
became a candidate before the Legislature to succeed himself as United 
States Senator, Mr. McKisson became a candidate against him Mr 
Hanna was just coming into prominence as a great national leader, and 
the members of the Legislature from this county who entered into the plan 
to defeat him were sharply criticised in the public prints, and the breach 
of the factions became wider. 

Mr. McKisson, as mayor, inaugurated manv public improvements of 
great value to the city. The intercepting sewer,'the widening of the river 
the reclaiming of the lake front, the garbage disposal plant, the new water¬ 
works tunnel, Edgewater Park, the Rockefeller Boulevard, and the Group 
Plan are some of the most important ones. During his administration the 
celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the city 
occurred. The first steps in the project were taken by the Early Settlers' 
Association at their annual meeting in 1893. A committee was appointed 
to confer with the city council, the Chamber of Commerce and other local 
bodies urging some action in regard to celebrating the day. The president, 
Hon. Richard C. Parsons, appointed a committee consisting of Hon. John 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


367 


C. Covert, Gen. James Barnett and others, and much enthusiasm was 
aroused. The Chamber of Commerce, the same year, passed a resolution 
favoring the celebration, and Pres. H. R. Goff appointed Wilson M. 
Day, H. A. Garfield, S. F. Haserot, V. C. Taylor, and L. F. Loree as a 
committee to further the project. A centennial commission was selected 
in 1895. It consisted of Governor William McKinley, Secretary of State 



General James Barnett 


Samuel M. Taylor, Auditor of State E. W. Poe, President of the Senate 
A. L. Harris, Speaker of the House Alexander Boxwell, Mayor Robert 
E. McKisson, Directors Miner G. Norton, Darwin E. Wright, President 
of the City Council Dan F. Reynolds, Jr., and Director of Schools H. Q. 
Sargeant The Early Settlers’ Association was represented on the com¬ 
mission by R. C. Parsons, George F. Marshall, A. J. Williams, H. M. 
Addison, and Bolivar Butts. Other members of the commission were 
W. J. Akers, Henry S. Brooks, Charles W. Chase, Wilson M. Day, M. A. 



368 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Foran, L. E. Holden, Moritz Joseph, George W. Kinney, Jacob B. Per¬ 
kins, and Augustus Zehring. 

As the expense of the celebration had to be met by private subscrip¬ 
tions many meetings were held in 1905 and much oratory indulged in. 
Among those who addressed Cleveland audiences on the subject were 
Governor McKinley, James H. Hoyt, L. E. Holden, H. R. Hatch, and 
John C. Covert. These were but a handful to the number who spoke 
during the celebration, which was one of the most eventful occasions in 
the history of the city. An illustrated volume of the centennial was com¬ 
piled by Edward A. Roberts, historian of the occasion, who was secretary 
of the commission during its active life, as many changes were made 
before the final celebration occurred. In this may be found the addresses 
delivered by many, including Mrs. Elroy M. Avery, Adj. Gen. H. A. 
Axline, Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton, Governor Asa S. Bushnell, W. F. Carr, 
Gen. James R. Carnahan, J. G. W. Cowles, Mrs. T. K. Dissette, Gen. J. J. 
Elwell, Mrs. Lydia Hoyt Farmer, Dr. Levi Gilbert, Rabbi Moses J. Gries, 
Senator Joseph R. Hawley of Connecticut, B. A. Hinsdale, Mrs. W. A. 
Ingham, Asa W. Jones, W. S. Kerruish, Governor Charles Warren Lip- 
pitt of Rhode Island, John T. Mack, editor and president of the Ohio 
associated dailies; Judge U. L. Marvin, William McKinley, introduced as 
Major McKinley, H. C. Ranney, John D. Rockefeller, Senator John Sher¬ 
man, Mrs. N. Coe Stewart, Mrs. B. F. Taylor, Mrs. Harriet Taylor 
Upton, author of the History of the Western Reserve; L. H. Jones, super¬ 
intendent of the Cleveland Public Schools; Mgr. T. P. Thorp, Presi¬ 
dent Thwing, of Western Reserve University; Prof. Jeremiah Smith, 
of Harvard; Rev. H. J. Ruetenik, of Calvin College, and poems by 
Col. J. J. Piatt, Miss Hannah Alice Foster, and Frederick Boyd Stevenson. 
A log cabin was built on the Public Square and a centennial arch, 70 
feet high, 106 feet wide, and 20 feet thick. A centennial medal was 
struck and placed in circulation. 

The celebration lasted from July 19th to September 10th, and included 
the following events: Special services in the churches and mass meetings 
in Central Armory and Music Hall, opening of Ohio National Guard and 
United States Regulars’ Encampment, opening of the log cabin. Foun¬ 
der’s Day, New England Day, Wheelmen’s Day, Bicycle Races, Women’s 
Day, Early Settlers’ Day, Western Reserve Day, Yacht Regatta, Floral 
Festival, Knights of Pythias Encampment opening, Historical Confer¬ 
ence, and Perry’s Victory Day. Multitudes of committees were appointed 
and serving, a grand ball, banquets, parades, athletics, and spectacular 
entertainments requiring in their successful accomplishment a great amount 
of labor. The historical conference lasted three days. The total expenses 
of the celebration was nearly $75,000. At its close the Women’s Depart¬ 
ment prepared a box or casket, which was lined with asbestos paper and 
filled with newspapers, mementos, and historical matter pertaining to the 
celebration and the city. This was hermetically sealed and deposited with 
the Western Reserve Historical Society, not to be opened until 1996 and 
then by a lineal descendant of their executive board. During the filling 
of the casket this sentiment was expressed: “May these annals of Cleve¬ 
land’s first one hundred years be an inspiration to the generations of 1996 
for continuity of worthy effort.” Western Reserve Day was participated 
in by the entire reserve, committees being appointed from every county. 
At this time, as featured by the addresses, Cleveland had a population of 
330,000, with 2,065 manufacturing establishments, employing 53,349 
hands, and paying a total annual wage of $30,500,000. 

Mayor McKisson was succeeded in office by John H. Farley, who was 
for a second time elected as the city’s chief magistrate. Mr. Farley’s 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


369 


administration was not spectacular but characterized by economy and 
steady attention to needed public improvements. He was partisan in his 
appointments, believing that this was the best method to secure harmony 
in the official fold. The story was often related of him that when asked 
to retain in some minor position a man of the former administration, who 
was of the opposite political party but had had the misfortune to lose a 
leg, the mayor replied that if he could not find a good one-legged democrat 
to fill the place he would cut off a leg. This administration was sandwiched 
in between the aggressive one that preceded him and the still more aggres¬ 
sive and brilliant one that was to follow. 

The administration of Tom L. Johnson, which followed that of Mr. 
Farley and continued for ten years, was one, like that of Mayor Pingree, 
of Detroit, that kept before the people actively the municipal government 
and its relation to the people’s interests. Mr. Johnson was born in Ken¬ 
tucky and had risen from a newsboy to a man of wealth. When he came 
to Cleveland to become its candidate for mayor he came from New York, 
but he had previously been a resident here, and been a successful street 
railway owner and operator in Cleveland, had served in Congress from 
this district, and was known as a man of wealth and remarkable ability. 
He had been popular as a street railway operator, his property had been 
accumulated in the street railway business, but he immediately, as a candi¬ 
date, began an assault upon special privilege and specifically advocated 
3 cent fare. This change from a franchise getter to a people’s advo¬ 
cate was heralded and his meetings were crowded. The feeling prevailed 
that in his advocacy of 3 cent fare so specifically put forth he must 
know from his experience as a railroad man that it was possible and due 
the people. He held large meetings and continued them, usually in tents, 
in all his campaigns. He delighted in a fight and was at his best when 
engaged in argument and often invited his political enemies to speak at 
his meetings. As illustrating the character of this remarkable man it is 
related that when engaged with a Mr. Moxham in negotiations involving 
a large deal with the Cambria Iron Company of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, 
and when the matter was reaching its climax he was discovered playing 
checkers with the bootblack at the club where the officials were in confer¬ 
ence. He was berated and charged with having disgraced his associates 
when he came forward with this defense: “But, Arthur, you don’t know 
what a hell of a good game of checkers this boy plays!” 

Elected and reelected he became the political leader of his party and 
soon there was hardly an officer in the city or county government that was 
not selected by him. The story of his street railway activities, the build¬ 
ing and operating of a 3 cent fare line in Cleveland, and, as the fran¬ 
chises were expiring, the final operation under the Taylor grant, is too 
long to be told in this chapter. His administration as mayor was charac¬ 
terized by great ability on his part and while serving in that capacity he 
made a campaign for governor of Ohio but was defeated, due largely to 
his advocacy of “single tax,” to which doctrine he was converted by Henry 
George. He was defeated in his sixth campaign for mayor by Herman 
Baehr. The establishing of the Warrensville farm for a workhouse and 
city infirmary where hundreds of acres are cultivated, providing outdoor 
labor for the inmates, stands as one of the achievements of his administra¬ 
tion. Newton D. Baker was his director of law during the whole of his 
time as mayor and was later an occupant of the mayor’s chair. To show 
the prominence given Cleveland by the Johnson administration it may be 
said that at one time he was prominently mentioned as a candidate for 
President of the United States. Shortly after his death a monument was 
erected to his memory on the Public Square. 


370 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Herman Baehr, who defeated Mr. Johnson for mayor after five others 
had failed, entered upon his duties January 1, 1910. He was not a good 
press agent. He had served as county recorder and was known as a faith¬ 
ful and efficient official. His defeat of the man, who had been thought 
invincible, brought upon him the enmity of that portion of the press that 
had been particularly favorable to Mr. Johnson in all of his campaigns. 
The representatives of one paper were forbidden to enter his office. Thus 
the acts of his administration were not heralded to the public, particularly 
the accomplishments that deserved favorable notice, as were those of his 
predecessor. He offended his political friends considerably by taking some 
of the appointments out of the expected channel. Believing that the 
health department, so important to the well being of the city, should not 
be used in any sense to reward political friends, he turned the matter of 
appointments in that department over to the Cleveland Academy of Medi¬ 
cine. He saw that the expenditures of the city were kept within its in¬ 
come. During his administration for the first time in the city car riders 



The Old Workhouse 

had actual 3 cent fare. Previous to that time 1 cent had been charged 
for transfers, making the fare 4 cents in many instances. The free 
transfer system was adopted under his administration with his commis¬ 
sioner of the street railways installed in the department. During his 
administration the largest paving and street repair programme was car- 
ned out that had been accomplished in any of the ten years preceding. 
He laid the cornerstone of the tuberculosis hospital at Warrensville, and 
the cornerstone of the present city hall. He championed the elimination 
of grade crossings in the city and a proposed bond issue for that purpose 
was voted up He built a new branch waterworks tunnel supplying the 
west side, and agitated the project of a filtration plant. He transformed 
the Central Viaduct from a drawbridge into a high level bridge after a 

I, a ilT Car Had i a e U h r r ° c Ugh the draw killm g seventeen people. This 
accident occurred in 1895, five years before he was installed in office. He 

enlarged and paved University Circle and established additional plav- 

hrtle n ™rh 0r Chl wt n - u He might have been dubbed the father of the 
little park system When he went out of office (he was not a candidate 

for a second term) he left money in the city treasury for the Kingsbury 
Ru o Improvement and a new bath house at Edgewater Park. He orig¬ 
inated the municipal park concerts and with them. Rose Day and Spring 
Day. He renewed the franchise with the East Ohio Gas Company Jt thf 

















THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


371 


same rate established in the original franchise secured by Mayor Johnson, 
but at a time when by reason of advanced wages it was extremely favorable 
to the gas users of the city. These are some of the accomplishments of 
the two years of Mayor Baehr. He took office when Cleveland had a 
population, according to the official census of that year, of 560,663. In 
Mr. Baehr’s administration occurred the celebration of the one hundredth 
anniversary of the organization of the county, at Cleveland. 

The Cuyahoga County centennial celebration was an event of great 
interest. In the week’s programme there occurred the dedication of the 
Denison-Harvard and the Rocky River bridges and the new courthouse. 
The newspapers of the city gave much space, printed and pictorial, to the 
programme of the week. On Monday morning of October 10th there 



Courtesy of the Cleveland Leader 


The Winslow and Cushing Homes on the Public Square, Cleve¬ 
land, now the Site of the May Company Department Store 


appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer a cartoon by Donahey, “The Fruit¬ 
age of a Century,” which for suggestive beauty has rarely been equalled. 
The celebration was held under the direction of a commission of which 
William H. Hunt was president; J. Arthur House, treasurer, and R. H. 
McLaughlan, secretary. It included a military and historic pageant, a 
night carnival, display of historic exhibits, various dedications mentioned, 
and an elaborate industrial parade, all showing the growth and present 
greatness of Cuyahoga County. Harry L. Vail was chairman of the enter¬ 
tainment committee; Charles E. Adams, of the finance; Wallace H. Cath- 
gart, publicity, and Vincent A. Sincere, decorations. 1810 and 1910 oc¬ 
curred in every unit of the decorations. The Sunday before gala week was 
devoted to special services in the churches. Monday, Early Settlers’ Day, 
was ushered in with a salute of a hundred guns, one for each year, fired 
from the United States steamer Dorothea. The exercises were presided 
over by O. J. Hodge, president of the Early Settlers’ Association. The 
meeting was held on the Public Square and Hon. Paul Howland, Samuel 
D. Dodge, and Hon. William Gordon delivered addresses. At the dedi¬ 
cation of the Denison-Harvard bridge, John G. Fischer presided and Capt. 
C. E. Benham, W. F. Eirich, Rev. Arthur C. Ludlow, and Dr. Dan F. 
Bradiey spoke. In the evening a second mass meeting was held in the 









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THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


373 


Chamber of Commerce auditorium, presided over by William J. Hunt, 
at which Charles E. Adams, George W. Kinney, Rabbi Moses J. Gries, 
Dr. Paul F. Sutpen, and Prof. Mattoon M. Curtis were the speakers. 

Tuesday was West Side Day. Its leading features were an immense 
automobile parade and the dedication of the Rocky River bridge. At the 
dedication Hon. Thomas P. Schmidt, Harry L. Vail, and E. J. Hobday 
were the speakers. Wednesday was Columbus Day and the parade of the 
Italian societies, a meeting at which Mayor Herman C. Baehr, Dr. S. 
Barricella, and S. Tamburella spoke and an evening devoted to fireworks 
provided by the Italian societies and to music provided by Robertson’s 
band were the principal features. 

Thursday was Cleveland Day and a great meeting presided over by 
R. W. Taylor was the principal event. Gen. James Barnett was designated 
as honorary chairman. Mayor Baehr spoke on “Our City.” Mrs. Sarah 
E. Hyre on “Woman’s Part in the Development of Cleveland”; John 
Carrere, of the Group Plan Commission, on “The City Beautiful”; New¬ 
ton D. Baker, law director, on “Citizen Ideals,” and James F. Jackson, 
superintendent of charities, on “The Humanitarian Phase of the City 
Government.” Friday was County Day when came the dedication of the 
new courthouse at which Judge F. A. Henry, Judge Harvey Keeler, and 
United States Attorney William L. Day were the speakers. 

It will be remembered that at the celebration in 1896 of the anniversary 
of the settlement of Cleveland, a great feature was the bicycle parade, and 
at this one came the automobile parade, but the historic sequence was car¬ 
ried still further, for, during the week, Glenn Curtiss with his airplane 
made frequent flights out over the lake as far as the waterworks crib to the 
astonishment of the spectators. To make the setting more realistic a com¬ 
pany of Indians camped on the Public Square during the week, among 
them a Chippewa and a Shawnee chief. 

Mayor Baehr was succeeded in office by Newton D. Baker, who came 
to Cleveland from West Virginia in 1899 and engaged in the practice of 
law. In the language of Carl Lorenz, a biographer of Mayor Johnson, 
“he was a polite and thorough gentleman and ever considerate. There 
was something soothing in the tone of his voice, which praised him. Even 
the coarse and illiterate were charmed by his language.” He espoused the 
cause of Mr. Johnson and was law director during the whole time of 
Mr. Johnson’s administration. His admiration for the mayor was un¬ 
dimmed. He took no stock in the charge that his chief was violating busi¬ 
ness ethics in assaulting those to whom he had sold his railroad properties, 
or in the suggestion that he was denouncing special privilege after he had 
acquired a competence as its beneficiary. He was fighting for the people’s 
interest and that was enough. Probably no mayor since the city was organ¬ 
ized has performed the official and semi-official duties of the office with so 
little personal friction as did Mr. Baker. Although firm in his views and 
relentless in carrying out his policies he was not of a type to beget personal 
antagonisms. A history of his four years as mayor, the activities and 
achievements of that period would cover, if recited in full, much space. 
Taking office January 1, 1912, he called about him a cabinet consisting of 
John N. Stockwell, director of law; Thomas L. Sidlo, public service; 
Harris R. Cooley, welfare; Alfred A. Benesch, safety; Thomas Coughlin, 
finance; Charles W. Stage, public utilities, and Peter Witt, street railway 
commissioner. His secretary was Milton L. Young. 

As building up the civic spirit of the city, celebrations came to be much 
in vogue and in Mayor Baker’s administration occurred the celebration of 
the one hundredth anniversary of the Battle of Lake Erie, or Perry’s vic¬ 
tory, as it is more commonly styled. This began September 14th. The 



Newton D. Baker 





THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


375 

old Niagara was tied to the dock and thousands visited this relic of a hun¬ 
dred years before. Each child was given an American flag as a souvenir 
of his visit. There was Niagara Day, Perry Day, Children’s and Women’s 
Day, and the last day included a motor boat race and a grand parade in the 
streets. The street parade was under the direction of Maj. Charles R. 
Miller, marshal, with Felix Rosenberg as his chief of staff. Like other 
celebrations it closed with fireworks on the lake front. The completion and 
occupancy of the new city hall, the building and opening of the new art 
gallery in Wade Park, and the completion of the Superior Street high level 
bridge were interesting events in this administration. The most important, 
however, was the change in the city government by the adoption of a new 
city charter. A home rule charter, strongly advocated by Mr. Baker, was 



Northwest Corner Superior and Seneca Streets 


approved by the voters of the city in July, 1913. The provisions of this 
are set forth in a history of the city by Mr. Avery, published shortly after 
its adoption. Mayor Baker declined a nomination as mayor for a third 
term and entered the cabinet of President Wilson as Secretary of War, 
which trying post he filled during the World war, when, at the close of 
President Wilson’s administration, he resumed the practice of law in Cleve¬ 
land. On his return to private life he was elected president of the Cham¬ 
ber of Commerce of Cleveland and distinguished himself in that capacity 
in a series of published letters debating with President Gompers, of the 
labor world, phases of that important subject, the relationship between 
capital and labor. 

At the close of Mr. Baker’s administration the city founded by Moses 
Cleveland and battled for in its primal infancy by Lorenzo Carter, was 
the sixth city in population in the United States, the fifth in manufactures, 
and, some historian has said, the first in civic attainment. It had nearly 
1,000,000 population and land in its corporate limits that sold in Lorenzo 
Carter’s time for a dollar an acre had multiplied in value two million times. 

The administration of Mayor Harry L. Davis, which followed that of 
Mr. Baker, began in 1916. The city had gone through several changes in 
form of government and another was to follow. The first change was to 
the Federal plan, so called, because adopted from its similarity to the Fed- 


376 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


eral Government. John M. Wilcox, Judge E. J. Blandin and others had 
been advocating a change in the form of the city government and while 
this was under consideration, a daughter of Mr. Wilcox suggested the 
Federal plan to her father. This plan in brief embraced the appointment 
of a cabinet by the mayor, each member to have charge of a department 
of the city government as the cabinet of the President of the republic 
operates at Washington. This plan was presented to a group of citizens 
by Mr. Wilcox and adopted and the necessary legislation secured. Miss 
Winnie Wilcox, now Mrs. Seymour Paine, and for years on the staff of 
the Cleveland Press, writing under the pseudonym of Mrs. Maxwell, was 
the originator of the Federal plan of city government, which in its general 
form has not been changed. In 1912 a new state constitution was adopted 
providing for home rule for cities and following this the new city charter 
came into being, as previously stated, making the second change in the city 
government. Mr. Davis assumed the duties of mayor during the stress 
of the World war and was reelected by a large majority. Of Welsh 
descent he began life in the old eighteenth, the Newburgh ward of Cleve¬ 
land. He had worked in the rolling mills there, and, inclined to political 
life, had risen to be city treasurer, when that office was elective. This 
gave him a large acquaintance. He ran for mayor against Mr. Baker and 
was defeated, but again a candidate with a less formidable opponent he 
won. 

His chief adviser in the cabinet, or board of control, was the law direc¬ 
tor, William S. FitzGerald. When President Wilson came to Cleveland to 
speak there was no hall suitable for the meeting and public interest was 
aroused looking to the erection of a public auditorium. Mayor Davis im¬ 
mediately began an active campaign for the building. He was supported 
by the newspapers of the city and a bond issue was voted by the people. 
Then began the acquiring of a suitable site. In this work Mr. FitzGerald 
as law director was quite successful. The site selected was held by over 
fifty different owners and the land was secured by the city for less than 
the appraised value. When the proposition for a railroad depot on the 
lake front was under consideration, Mr. FitzGerald went to Washington 
and secured the necessary legislation for the sale of the Marine Hospital, 
which became necessary in connection with the proposed depot. The 
change to a subway depot at the Public Square made the acquiring of the 
Marine Hospital site unnecessary but the work of getting the legisla¬ 
tion through Congress had been accomplished. Among other things 
Mr. FitzGerald, in the Davis administration, drafted and secured the pass¬ 
age of a bill in the Legislature declaring the “made land” on the lake front 
vested in the city. This had long been in controversy. The building of 
the breakwater had brought new problems to the city and the question of 
the ownership of land created by the extension of the shore northward 
from land owned by the railroads and individuals, was prominent in many 
administrations. Under the McKisson administration director of law 
Miner G. Norton, battled for the lake front and the city increased by 
many acres the made land,” which was designated unofficially as “McKis¬ 
son Park. _ The activities of the Davis administration duiing the World 
war were in keeping with those everywhere over the land. Mayor Davis 
appointed a war board, whose duties were many and who were in active 
service until the armistice was signed. Probably in no other period of the 
history of the city were so many public demonstrations of such magnitude 
held as in the administration of Mayor Davis. It is a part of the history 
of country , n the war. -Mr. Davis began the new auditorium, spoke 
in public gatherings for the bond issue, which carried, and had the build¬ 
ing under way, when, after being reelected, he resigned as mayor to make a 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


377 


successful campaign for governor of the state. Thus in quite recent years 
two of Cleveland’s mayors have been advanced to higher positions, Mr. 
Baker to serve as Secretary of War in the cabinet of President Wilson^ 
and Mr. Davis to serve as governor of Ohio. 

May 1, 1920, by the resignation of Mayor Davis, William S. FitzGerald 
became mayor of the city by virtue of his position as law director. The 
council and city government were as follows: Councilmen, Alva R. Dit- 
trick, John A. Braschwitz, Samuel B. Michell, Frank J. Faulhaber, John 
P. Becker, Clayton C. Townes, Jerry R. Zmunt, Michael J. Gallagher, 
James J. McGinty, John W. Reynolds, Thomas W. Fleming, Herman H. 
Finkle, Charles H. Kadlacek, Bernard E. Orlikowski, W. E. McNaugh- 
ton, John F. Curry, Jacob Stacel, L. R. Canfield, Perry D. Caldwell, S. D. 
Noragon, John M. Sulzmann, Harry L. Bronstrup, A. J. Damm, Walter 



Lumber District Along Cuyahoga River 


E. Cook, J. R. Hinchlifife, and William Potter, Mayor William S. Fitz¬ 
Gerald, president of the council; Clayton C. Townes, director of law; 
William B. Woods, director of public service; Alexander Bernstein, 
director of public welfare; Dudley S. Blossom, director of public safety; 
Anton B. Sprosty, director of finance; Clarence S. Metcalf, public utili¬ 
ties; Thomas S. Farrell, parks and public property; Fred W. Thomas, 
street railroad commissioner; Fielder Sanders, clerk of the city council; 
C. J. Benkoski, assistants, Herbert C. Wood, Charles E. Cowell, and 
Charles V. Dickerson; sergeant-at-arms of the council, Herman H. Ham¬ 
lin, and page, E. F. Manning. 

Mayor FitzGerald was succeeded in office by Fred Kohler, who stepped 
from a county office, that of county commissioner, to a successful candi¬ 
dacy for mayor. Mr. Kohler was opposed in the race by Mr. FitzGerald, 
who had the support of the republican organization, Councilman James R. 
Hinchliffe, who had strong newspaper support, of the same party, and was 
himself a republican. He made a personal campaign and won with no 
political debts to pay and no political strings to tie him down to any course 



378 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


of action. Elected at the same time was a larger council than had ever 
before assembled in the city. The growth of the city involving a new 
division of its territory into wards had added seven more councilmen to 
that body. The council elected with Mr. Kohler included seventeen of the 
former councilmen and Liston G. Schooley, Michael L. Sammon, P. F. 
Rieder, John J. Moore, A. J. Mitchel, Thomas E. Walsh, William F. 
Thompson, John D. Marshall, Wellington J. Smith, James R. Oswald, 
R. C. Wheeler, Albert H. Roberts, Louis Petrash, Edward J. Sklenicka, 
R. S. Force, and Charles C. Hahn, a total of thirty-three. Clayton C. 
Townes was reelected president of the council and the executive depart¬ 
ment of the city was as follows: Mayor, Fred Kohler; director of law, 
J. Paul Lamb; public service, J. F. Maline; public welfare, Ralph Perkins; 
public safety, T. C. Martinec; finance, G. A. Gesell; public utilities, E. L. 



Municipal Bath House 


Myers; parks and public property, G. A. Reutenik; street railroad com¬ 
missioner, James W. Holcomb. The clerk of the council was Fred W. 
Thomas, and his assistants the same as in the former council, including 
Charles E. Cowell, who has served in that capacity for seventeen years. 

Mr. Kohler began his administration by a reduction of salaries and a 
reduction of the force employed in many departments. He clashed with 
the council on many important matters, clashed with his official family 
on many occasions, but throughout his two years as mayor held to his 
original programme of retrenchment and according to his report filed at 
the close of his term had saved to the city $2,800,000 and had left in the 
city treasury a cash balance of $1,800,000. His report for 1923 indicates 
in some measure the magnitude of the city’s business. Forty-three miles 

° f WCre laid ’ 20 ’ 000 street °P enin £ Permits were issued, 

nearly 23,000,000 pounds of garbage were collected, about 200.000 yards 
ot mud were dredged out of the river channel, and nearly 200,000,000 
gallons^ of water pumped into the mains to supply the city. In Mayor 
Kohler s administration the new auditorium was finished and opened to 
the public and the new city hospital. A report by the Builders’ Exchange 
recites that in the year of 1923 more than $100,000,000 had been put into 
new construction. v 















THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


379 


A new departure in city government came into being following the 
administration of Mr. Kohler. At a previous election the city manager 
plan was adopted by the voters. This plan had been in operation in various 
cities of the land but Cleveland is the first large city to adopt it. The new 
council chosen under the new provisions were elected from districts and 
not from wards and consists of twenty-five members. There are four 
councilmanic districts. The council consists of Peter Witt, Clayton C. 
Townes, Michael H. Gallagher, William G. Schooley, Sam B. Michell. 
Peter F. Rieder, from the first district; Emil Robechek, Bernard B. Orli- 
kowski, William J. Kennedy, Louis Petrash and A. H. Roberts, from 
the second district; Herman H. Finkle, Thomas W. Fleming, James J. 
McGinty, Marie R. Wing, Thomas E. Walsh and Henry L. Bronstrup, 
from the third district; and John M. Sulzmann, A. R. Hatton, Walter E. 
Cook, John D. Marshall, Fielder Sanders, Helen H. Green and William E. 
Potter, from the fourth district. From the first district William G. Gib¬ 
bons was also chosen in addition to those already mentioned. 

The council at its first meeting January 7, 1924, elected William R. 
Hopkins city manager and fixed his salary at $25,000 per annum. They 
chose William S. FitzGerald, the former mayor, as a member of the civil 
service commission, elected Clayton C, Townes as president and by reason 
of his position mayor of the city, and Fred W. Thomas, clerk. City 
Manager Hopkins appointed immediately his cabinet as follows: Director 
of public safety, Edwin D. Barry; finance, William J. Semple; utilities, 
Howell Wright; public service, William S. Ferguson; law, Carl F. Shuler; 
welfare, Dudley Blossom; parks, Frank S. Harmon; secretary, William J. 
Murphy; secretary to director of parks, Miss Ruth Stone. Thus for the 
first time the city government was organized on a bi-partisan basis, the 
two parties that had controlled the city government each at various periods 
being represented in the cabinet of the new city manager. 

We are closing the chapter on the municipal government of Cleveland 
at an interesting period. William R. Hopkins in his message to the coun¬ 
cil outlined a programme of constructive improvements in every depart¬ 
ment of the city government, and we can not close this chapter more fit¬ 
tingly than by using the closing words of his message: 

“I trust that we shall all be able to strengthen the bonds of mutual 
confidence and good will, forget small things in great things, and 
remember that the City of Cleveland expects and deserves the very 
best that is in every one of us.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII 


CLEVELAND’S CHURCHES AND MISSIONS 

“Show me a place where there isn’t any Meetiri Houses and 
zvhere preachers is never seen, and I’ll show you a place where 
old hats air stuffed into broken winders, where the children are 
dirty and ragged, where the gates have no hinges, zvhere the 
zmmmen air slipshod, and where maps of the deznl’s wild land 
air painted upon men’s shirt bosums zvith tobacco jooce! That’s 
what I’ll show you. Let us consider what the preachers do for 
us before we aboose ’em.”—Artemus Ward. 


About the beginning of the nineteenth century, Rev. Joseph Badger, a 
soldier of the Revolutionary war, preached under a tree by the roadside 
out in Newburgh. He was a missionary. He wrote home that the people 
here were opposed to piety and gloried in their infidelity. No effort 
was made at this time to organize a church and it was not until 1816, 
twenty years after the city was founded by Moses Cleveland, that it 
had a church organization and then no church building. 

On November 9th of that year Rev. Roger Searle from Connec¬ 
ticut got together a small gathering at the home of Phineas Shepherd. 
Thirteen families were represented at this meeting and Trinity Protestant 
Episcopal Church, the first in the city, the oldest of the multitude that 
we can now point to with pride, was organized with eleven members. The 
first vestrymen and wardens were Josiah Barber, Phineas Shepherd, 
Charles Taylor, James S. Clark, Sherlock J. Andrews, Levi Sargent, and 
John W. Allen. In 1820 they held their meetings out in Newburgh, 
where the more active and influential members lived, but two years later 
they moved back to Cleveland. Reverend Mr. Freeman gave some of 
his time to the church, and preached, and was the first rector. He went 
East and secured $1,000 to aid in building a church. In 1828 the 
vestry incorporated and a frame building was raised. It was built at 
a cost of $3,000 and dedicated August 12, 1829. This, the first 
church built in Cleveland, was located in the residence and business sec¬ 
tion of the town, at the corner of St. Clair and Seneca (West Third) 
streets, and the site was purchased at the nominal price of two dollars 
per acre. In 1830 Reverend Mr. Elroy succeeded Reverend Freeman and 
was the first rector who gave his whole time to the church. Trinity grew 
and in 1854 the site that had cost two dollars an acre was sold for $250 
per foot front, the old frame church having in the meantime been 
burned, and a stone church was built at the corner of Superior and Bond 
(East Sixth) streets. This church was dedicated in 1855. It had a 
tower and an equipment of chimes comprising nine bells. Among the 
early rectors of Trinity, the first church, were Revs. W. N Lyster Seth 
Davis, E Roy, E. Boynden, David Burger, Richard Bury, I. Windsor, 
iT eS w' -5° CS ’ T !P mas A - Starkey, Charles Breck, W. E. McLaren and 
John W. Brown. The next and crowning achievement after the building 
™ st o n e church on Superior Street was the erection of Trinity 
Cathedral at Euclid and East Twenty-second Street. This present struc- 

380 



THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


381 


ture is the center of the Protestant Episcopal churches of Ohio. It is 
under the wing of Rt. Rev. W. A. Leonard, Bishop of the Diocese 
of Ohio, Rev. Francis S. White is dean and Rev. W. L. Rutan, curate. 
Near by is the Cathedral House, the Church Home and the City Mission. 

Since the organization of this first church in Cleveland, which we 
have outlined in its history thus briefly, the religious life of the city 
has kept pace with the growth in other respects, or it may be historically 
true that it has led. As Cleveland is noted for the diversity of its products 
in manufactures, for the cosmopolitan character of its people, developed 
from the New England nucleus that came before the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, so is it remarkable in its religious development, 
having now nearly six hundred churches and missions, scattered in 



“Old Trinity” Church, 1828-29 

convenient locations throughout its borders, and embracing nearly one 
hundred different denominations. 

Of the Protestant Episcopal churches since Trinity St. John’s on the 
West Side was organized in 1834. Meetings were held in Columbus 
Block, in schoolhouses, and in homes until 1836 when a stone church 
was built at the corner of Church and West Twenty-sixth (Wall) streets. 
This building cost $17,000 and is still the home of the original organization. 
In 1866 it was partly destroyed by fire but was rebuilt with additional 
room. The first rector was Rev. Seth Davis. Among those who served 
later were Revs. S. R. Crane, D. W. Talford, William Burton and 
Lewis Burton. In the ’80s the wardens were George L. Chapman 
and C. L. Russell; vestrymen, Thomas Axworthy, George L. Chapman, 
J. M. Ferris, M. A. Manna, F. W. Pelton, Elias Simms; treasurer, 
A. L. Withington; and clerk, Howard M. Ingham. 

Grace Church was organized in 1845 at the residence of Rev. Richard 
Bury by former members of Trinity, this congregation having outgrown 
its accommodations. A lot was bought at the corner of Erie (East 
Ninth) and Huron, then the eastern limits of the city. Here a brick 
church was built costing $10,000. The first vestrymen were A. A Treat 









382 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


and E. F. Penderson, and the first wardens, H. A. Ackley, Moses Kelley, 
J. F. Jenkins, S. Englehart, William Richards, John Powell, Thomas 
Bolton and George F. Marshall. Among the early rectors were Revs. 
Lawson Carter, Gideon Perry, William A. Rich and William Allen Fisk. 
The money to build Grace Church was subscribed on condition that all 
seats should be free. This was a new departure and Grace was desig¬ 
nated as the “Peoples Church.” It was the first “free” church in Ohio. 

The down-town section of the city became so valuable for business 
purposes and the churches with one or two exceptions, which we will 
name later, have moved for the better convenience of the people into 
the residence districts and Grace Church moved with the rest. It now 

is located on Prospect Avenue at Boliver Road. Rev. George C. Wads¬ 

worth preceded the present rector, Rev. Wm. C. Hicks. 

St. Paul’s was organized October 26, 1846. The first rector was 
Gideon B. Perry. D. W. Duty and Aaron Clark were the first vestry- 



St. John’s Church, 1828-29 


r an , d , J ames Kellogg, H. L. Noble, Moses Kelley, W. T. Warner, 
1. W. Morse, O. A. Brooks, Oliver Arey and Edward Shepard were the 
rst wardens. Services were first held in an upper room on Superior 
Street near Seneca (West Third). In March, 1848, a lot was bought at 
the corner of Sheriff (East Sixth) and Euclid and a frame church 
begun but this was burned while under construction. Nothing daunted the 
members immediately began the construction of a brick building which 
was comp eted and opened for services in 1851. The first sermon in the 
new building was preached by Rev. Dr. Perry. Following him in 
their order were Revs. R. B. Claxton, Wilbur T. Paddock, I. H. Rylance 
Frederick Brooks. In 1874 the church property was sold and a 
chapel built at the corner of Euclid and Case (East Fortieth). At this 
point is located the commodious church of today. In the 70s, Rev 
Nelson S. Rulison was rector; Rev. W. C. French, assistant rector j 
E. J. Comstock, senior warden; J. D. Devereaux, junior warden; Zenas 
a , ng ’ATA mstron S’ R w - Hubby, H. C. Ranney, George A Tis- 
nn t’ '■ Y S ' Pa S e > C. E. Stenley, vestrymen. The present 

pastor is \\ alter R. Breed. It should be mentioned that the last rector of 
TV./? hn s . was R , ev - Frederick B. Avery, and at present there is no 
settled rector, as the church has not yet called his successor. 

4 o!!i T A the earl , ier ch urches of this denomination was St. James, 
a child of Trinity and presided over for some time by the assistant 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


383 


rector of the parent church. The first established rector was Rev R 
Bury. A brick church at the corner of Superior and Alabama streets 
was its home for many years. It is now located on East Fifty-fifth 
Street and the present rector is Rev. Vivian A. Peterson. 

Grace Church, South, was organized in 1869 by Rev. Frederick 
Brooks, rector of St. Paul’s. The congregation first held meetings in 
an old Presbyterian building. This they afterwards purchased and moved 
to a site secured at Harvard and Sawyer (East Ninety-first) streets, 
where it is now located. After Frederick Brooks, Rev. Royal B. Bascome 
was at the head, then came Revs. Stephen W. Garrett, Marmaduke M. 
Dillon and I. McK. Pittenger. Reverend Pittenger had been pastor of 
the Congregational Church at Brecksville. This became Presbyterian and 
Reverend Pittenger was chosen presiding elder at a meeting of the 
Synod in Cleveland. Soon after he embraced the Episcopal faith and 
became rector of Grace Church. This came in the days when the articles 
of belief were more strictly drawn in the popular mind than now and 
he was roundly criticized by some of his former associates in religious 
work. This would seem unjust, for in Protestant churches, according 
to Schaff, the authority of creeds is relative and always subordinate 
to the Bible as the only infallible rule of faith and practice. We have 
referred to this incident in the history of Grace Church as showing how 
in later years, as the churches multiplied, there has been a change and 
church homes are selected with less regard to the form of worship. 
We would like to give more of the history of this church and of others 
but the limits of this chapter will not permit. The present rector of 
the church is Reverend Mr. Trinkett. 

St. Mary’s Church began as a mission or school in 1863, when Levi 
Battles and S. N. Sanford started The Cleveland Female Seminary, a 
school for girls, providing for religious training. Meetings were held 
and Mr. Sanford acted as licensed lay reader. In 1868 a church was 
organized with S. N. Sanford and Levi Battles as wardens and Lorenzo 
R. Chapman, Walter Blythe, H. C. Deming, J. W. Fawcett and T. W. 
Mason as vestrymen. The first rector was Rev. Royal B. Bascom, and 
under his rectorate a church was built and dedicated in 1870. Among 
those who served after him were Revs. J. J. A. Morgan, Frank M. Hall 
and J. Sidney Kent. We mention these who were connected with the 
earlier history of the church. The present rector is Rev. James W. 
Heywood and the church building is located on Ramona Boulevard. 

All Saints, St. Mark’s, Emanuel Church, Memorial Church of the 
Good Shepherd, and St. Luke’s, all have an interesting history dating 
back some fifty years. To one who would pass today the modest frame 
church at the corner of Scranton Road and Mentor Avenue, the home 
of All Saints Church, he would hardly associate it, without previous 
information, with the many who are and have been prominent in the 
business and civic life of Cleveland and have been identified with its 
history. The present rector is Rev. J. S. Banks. Emanuel Church on 
Euclid Avenue was organized in 1876. The first wardens were Dr. J. B. 
McConnell and W. C. Miller, and its vestrymen, Thomas C. Early, 
Enos Foreman, Zenas King, A. C. Armstrong, George Wratten, William 
Snape and B. C. Field; Rev. B. C. Noakes was its first rector. Its first 
home was a chapel at Euclid and Case (West Fortieth) and its present 
home the commodious church at Euclid and East Eighty-seventh Street. 
The present rector is Rev. Kirk B. O’Ferrall. Memorial Church of the 
Good Shepherd was built as a memorial to Rev. Alexander Varian, his 
widow and children providing a lot on which a church was built in 1873 
on Addison Road. The present rector is Rev. Geo. I. Foster. St. Luke’s 


384 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


began as a mission of St. Paul’s and a brick church was built on Broadway. 
The St. Luke’s of today is located at West Seventy-eighth Street on Lake 
Avenue and the present rector is Rev. Leon T. Haley. 

The number of Protestant Episcopal churches in Cleveland, at the 
present time, is exceeded by other denominations but it has the dis¬ 
tinction of having established the first church in a city of six hundred 
churches, a consummation not probably dreamed of by the little gathering 
that met at the log house of Phineas Shepherd in 1816 and organized 
Trinity. Among the later churches organized may be mentioned Christ 
Church at Superior and East 108th with E. G. Mapes as rector, Holy 
Spirit on Wade Park Avenue, with Edwin L. Williams as rector; Incar¬ 
nation on 105th Street, A. R. McKinstry, rector; St. Albans on Edghill 
Road, J. E. Carhartt, rector; St. Andrews (colored), East Forty-ninth 
Street, William B. Southern, rector; St. Mark’s, on Franklin Avenue, 
Lucius W. Shey, rector; St. Martin’s on Fairmount Boulevard, John K. 
Coolidge, rector; St. Matthew’s on Clark Avenue, Leon T. Haley, rector; 
St. Paul’s, Euclid in East Cleveland, Walter R. Breed, pastor; St. Peter’s, 
Edanola Avenue, L. B. Goodwin, rector; St. Stephen’s East 105th, Wil¬ 
liam H. Rogers, rector; and St. Phillip’s at West Thirty-third and Denison 
Avenue, Rev. George Bailey its rector. The last named church under 
the active support of its rector and a men’s league of unusual capability 
has in the past year erected a beautiful brick church replacing a modest 
frame building that had been its temporary home. And here again, as 
appears in so much of written history, we have made a grave omission, 
for the woman’s guild was an important factor and history should so 
record. 

Methodist preaching began in Newburgh quite early and a class was 
formed in 1818. This had its ups and downs and finally became extinct. 
The town was given up as a lost colony for a while. The statement writ¬ 
ten home by Reverend Badger seemed to be founded on fact. On New 
Year’s day in 1832, Lyman Ferris went to Cleveland and invited Reverend 
Mr. Goddard, who had preached out there, to come out and try again. He 
did so and a class was formed consisting of Lyman Ferris and wife, 
Stephen Ames and wife, Cyrus Chapman and wife, Mr. D. Henderson 
and Mrs. Willis. This was the beginning of Methodism in the present 
limits of Cleveland. The first Methodist to live in Cleveland was Mrs. 
Grace Johnson, who came to the county in 1822. The class formed in 
Newburgh in 1832 grew, having preachers from neighboring circuits, 
and in 1841 a church building was erected at a cost of $3,000. This church 
had no settled pastor until 1860, when Rev. D. C. Wright was engaged 
Revs. S. Gregg, D. Prosser, R. M. Warren, M. Hill, G. W. Chesbro^ 
Thomas Stubbs, J. R. Lyon and A. S. Dobbs followed him in the order 
named. Under Reverend Dobbs a brick church was built to replace the 
first frame building. In the ’70s the board of trustees consisted of 
Edmund James, John Henderson, William P. Braund, George R. Hill, 
W- Culett, J. D. Jones, Robert Woodley, Noah Rathmer and 
William Jones. Revs. C. Prindle, A. D. Morton and Benjamin Excell had 
also been settled pastors of the church prior to the ’80s. 

Various meetings had been held by circuit riders in Cleveland, as 
originally bounded, previous to 1841, and in that year the first Methodist 
Church was organized and a church built at the corner of St. Clair and 
Wood streets. This was the first Methodist church organized in the 
original boundaries of Cleveland. In 1869 a new chapel was built at the 
corner of Euclid and Erie (East Ninth), which became the church home 
until 18/4 when the chapel was replaced by a fine building costing $140,000. 

I his church on the outskirts of Cleveland soon found itself in the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


385 


business center of the city and in 1904 the present beautiful edifice at 
Euclid and East Thirtieth, costing $250,000, was erected. In all of 
its history this church has been the parent organization of Methodism 
in the city, establishing missions and churches and starting them 
on their way. It has a membership of over three thousand and the 
pastor is Rev. Albert E. Piper. Among the early pastors have been 
Revs. Francis A. Dighton, Hiram Gilmore, J. W. Lowe, Hiram Kinsley, 
H. N. Stevens, J. Renney, J. K. Hallock, H. M. Bettes, A. M. Brown’ 
L. D. Mix, Samuel Gregg and B. K. Maltby. 

Of the fifty churches in the city and vicinity multiplied as the popula¬ 
tion grew to the present time, we have mentioned the East Cleveland, 
which was organized in 1827. There was the First German Methodist 
Episcopal, which was organized in 1845 and three years later built a 
brick church building between Ontario and Erie (East Ninth), the Frank¬ 
lin Avenue, however, was organized fifteen years before, in 1830. In 
1860 the First German Church was built on East Ninth (Erie) and 
later exchanged for the Baptist Church building at the corner of Scovill 
and Sterling. Early pastors of this church include Revs. C. H. Buhre, 
C. Helway, John A. Klein, C. Gahn, P. F. Schneider, J. Rothweiler, 
N. Nuhfer and Ennis Barr. 

Christ Church organized by Rev. Dillon Prosser, and Taylor Street 
organized three years later, in 1853, by Rev. Benjamin Parkins, and 
The German Methodist Church of the west side, are linked with the early 
history of Cleveland. Reverend Prosser in the ’50s established a Ragged 
School at the corner of Canal and Water streets. This was a sort of 
relief work, such as the Salvation Army, are engaged in at the present 
time. The efforts of Reverend Prosser were directed towards the rescue 
of destitute children. As Mrs. Ingham wrote of his work: “His pulpit 
was an inverted flour barrel, from which he preached to the ‘great 
unwashed.’ ” Mrs. Harriet Sanford Mitchell and Mrs. Abby Fitch Bab¬ 
bit were engaged with Reverend Prosser in this rescue work. The work 
was enlarged and, in 1855, many were engaged in perfecting the workings 
of this rescue mission. Homes were visited and idle and destitute chil¬ 
dren were brought in, but as many came from the vicious classes the 
work of the missionary was an important element. Classes were taught, 
clothing was distributed, and work now done by the Associated Charities 
was carried on. Rev. Dillon Prosser was a pioneer in this work, the 
importance of which in the building up of a great city can hardly be over¬ 
estimated. Quite early the headquarters of this relief or rescue work 
was located on Champlain Street near where the police station now stands. 
Of this we will speak later. 

Superior Street Tabernacle, the Scovill Avenue Church, the first 
organized in 1860 and the second in 1866, were also brought into being 
under the enthusiastic direction of Reverend Prosser. Lorain Street 
Methodist Church was organized in 1868 by Rev. H. L. Parish, who 
was its first pastor. Grace Church near Literary Street, organized in 
1870, and Broadway in 1872 under Revs. Ruddick and C. N. Grant, 
respectively, have a place in the history of the early Methodist churches. 
The Willson Avenue Mission is identified with the early history of 
Methodism in Cleveland. This was organized in a saloon on St. Clair 
Street as a mission Sunday school, then Mrs. Prosser, wife of Rev. 
Dillon Prosser, purchased the building and had it removed to Willson 
Avenue (Fifty-fifth Street). This was never organized into a church. 

Closely allied in religious worship but differing somewhat in creed 
was the first Wesleyan Methodist Church formed in Cleveland. It came 
about in this way. At the Erie conference of the Methodist churches? 


386 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


held in 1838 some expression was adopted on the question of slavery that 
offended very many of the Cleveland Methodists. This action seems to 
have been taken at the conference before the organization of the First 
Methodist Church, but was probably brought before the church here at 
a later period. As a result sixty members of the First Church withdrew 
and formed the First Wesleyan Methodist in 1843. This church stood 
alone until 1848 when it entered into the Wesleyan Methodist Connection 
of America. Thus early in the churches of Cleveland as elsewhere the 
slavery question became an issue. 

Of the fifty Methodist churches in Cleveland three are German, one 
is Swedish and nine are colored. The first colored church was organized 
in 1874 under the name of the Union Chapel. In the same year a church 
building was erected by C. H. Norton and given to the society. The 
first pastor was Rev. Henry Stum. Since that others have been organized 
from time to time and they have been a great factor in the training of 
men and women for good citizenship. There is the Allen Chapel Mission 
on Burke Avenue with David Irvin as pastor. The Avery Methodist 
Episcopal Church on East Twenty-eighth Street with Rev. Jesse Bass 
as pastor, the Bethel on Shiloh Road with Rev. H. H. Applegrove as 
pastor, the Cory on Scovill Avenue with Rev. John B. Redmond as 
pastor, the Holsey Mission on Croton Avenue, Rev. Robert B. Vinson, 
pastor; Lee Memorial on Cedar Avenue, Rev. L. H. Brown, pastor, and 
others. 

It would be interesting to include a history of each of the fifty churches 
of this denomination. The German churches have taken an enviable 
place in the caravan of progress. As early as 1853 Mrs. Charlotte Deg- 
meier, wife of a German Methodist minister, began a work among the 
neglected children of the city, particularly among those of her own 
nationality. She organized a School and Relief Society. The boys and 
girls were collected in a brick building at the corner of Detroit and Pearl 
(West Twenty-fifth) Street. This labor of love continued and Mrs. 
Degmeier purchased a building on Main Street and was aided by Mrs. 
Alf Davis, Mrs. Horace Benton, Mrs. W. B. Guyles and Mrs. John 
Cannon in her School and Relief Society. How much we owe to the 
women through the century and more of Cleveland’s building the writer 
can only indicate and the reader reflect upon. 

Of the Free Methodists there are only two churches in the city. The 
first was formed in 1873. It started with six members and a small build¬ 
ing was erected on Pearl (West Twenty-fifth) Street. The first officers 
were A. Bradfield, William C. Jones, E. Thomas and Thomas Service 
The first pastor was Rev. William H. James. Rev. C. F. Irish was the 
pastor in the latter part of the ’70s and he was later the pastor of churches 
of the Methodist Episcopal faith. There was a Welsh Calvinist Church 
11 ~ 1858 ' We *? ave ? iven the Union Chapel as the first African 
Methodist Church organized in the city but St. John’s appears to have 
)een organized in 1865 and hence should claim the distinction of being 
the first. 6 


1 he circuit riders of the Methodist Church were genuine pioneers, 
they endured the hardships of the forest life and were a part of the 
crude civilization that built the first fires in the woods, beside which they 
called to a better life based on the example of the Great Master. It is 
pro oable that some in this later time who are engaged in the ministry 
may trace their ancestry back to the circuit riders of the early days 
Among them are Revs. Elmer E. Smith, John M. Baxter, John Oetien, 
James T. Hoffman, John H. Le Croix, John B. Redmond, Paul E. 
Secrest, Elton D. Barnett, Louis C. Wright, Albert E. Piper, William C 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


387 


Stokes, F. M. Baker, J. J. Wyeth, Franklin J. Nichols, Robert B. Vinson, 
D. W. Knight, L. O. Eldredge, Marcellus B. Fuller, L. H. Brown, Joseph 
Kenney, John J. McAlpin and John F. Rutledge and the superintendent 
of the Cleveland District, Rev. Isaac E. Miller. 

The first Presbyterian church was formed with sixteen members 
September 19, 1820. The organization meeting was held in the old 
log courthouse on the public square. Rev. Randolph Stone was the first 
minister. The meetings of the church were held in the log courthouse for 
two years, then in the brick academy on St. Clair Street, where engine 
house No. 1 now stands. The meetings were held on the second floor. 
The organization of the church was preceded by that of a Sunday school, 
which was formed in June, 1819, with Elisha Taylor as superintendent. 
He was a Presbyterian, while the secretary, Moses White, was a Baptist. 
Mr. Taylor is represented as a forceful character and his wife as one 
““given to hospitality and a readiness to entertain ministers of all creeds 
who chanced to visit the settlement.” These were prominent in the for¬ 
mation and early years of the church as they had been in the Sabbath 
school which preceded it a short time. The secretary, Mr. White, attended 
the meetings until the formation of the first Baptist Church in the city. 
The original or charter members of the church were Elisha Taylor and 
Ann Taylor, his wife; Henry Baird and Ann Baird, his wife; Samuel I. 
Hamlen, Philip B. Andrews, Sophia L. Perry, Sophia Walworth, Mabel 
Howe, Bertha Johnson, Robert Baird and Nancy Baird, his wife; Re¬ 
becca Carter, Juliana Long, Isabella Williamson and Harriet Howe. 
These were the first members of the Old Stone Church, as it is now 
called, a church which has withstood the test of fire and business aggres¬ 
sion and still has its home on the Public Square, its walls resting in solemn 
grandeur on a site purchased for $400. Its history is closely allied with 
that of Trinity, for after various meeting places were used, including those 
we have mentioned, and after Trinity erected a frame building on St. 
Clair Street, both churches met in the new building. Later the Presby¬ 
terian Church was built on the Public Square. The site was purchased, 
and this is the site upon which the present Old Stone Church stands, by 
Samuel Cowles from Joel Scranton and there was a provision in the sale 
that within three years the property be sold to the First Presbyterian 
Church for the purpose of erecting a meeting house thereon. The $400 
was contributed by ten men, Samuel Williamson, Samuel Cowles, Leonard 
Case, Peter M. Weddell, Nathan Perry and Harmon Kingsbury each 
gave $50, and John M. Sterling, Samuel Starkweather, A. W. Walworth 
and Edmund Clark each gave $25. The first building was put up in 1832, 
or it was begun in that year and Samuel I. Hamlen was appointed to 
supervise the building at $2 per day. Money was scarce and the construc¬ 
tion did not progress rapidly until a loan was secured from the Com¬ 
mercial Bank of Lake Erie. The building as dedicated in 1834 was of 
stone and cost $9,500. It was 55 by 80 feet and in the language of 
the school youth a “swell” building. The Rev. John Keep, who later 
assisted in the founding of Oberlin College, was a supply pastor of the 
church. The first installed pastor was Rev. Samuel Clark Aiken. He 
began his pastorate in 1835, and, as illustrating the solidity and stability 
of the Old Stone Church, he remained until 1861. In the meantime a 
great calamity had visited the congregation, their fine building, the finest 
in the city, with a spire 230 feet high, was burned. There was insurance 
and reconstruction immediately began. In 1884 a second fire, which 
originated in the Wick Block adjoining, visited the church. The loss 
was $175,000. The next day the pastor, Doctor Mitchell, preached on the 
.text, “Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. After this fire 


Vol. 1—13 


388 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


the agitation in the church and community began for a removal of the 
church away from the down-town location to some residence section but 
it did not prevail. Col. John Hay was one who urged the retention of 
the present site. Others of influence joined and it was finally deter¬ 
mined to retain the old historic site. The Old Stone Church is identified 
with the history of Cleveland from a very early date and its activities 
have been many. Probably no church in the city has had so many men 
and women of wealth and influence connected with it as has this one. 
Its pastors have been retained for long periods. Among them have been 
Revs. Samuel Clark Aiken, William Henry Goodrich, Hiram Collins 
Hayden, Arthur Mitchell and Alfred J. Wright. The present able and 
eloquent leader is Rev. Andrew Barclay Meldrum, who began his labors 
as pastor in 1902. In a history of the Old Stone Church recently pub¬ 
lished by Arthur C. Ludlow, D. D., we find this paragraph: “The growing 



Rev. S. C. Aiken 

cosmopolitan character of the Stone Church is emphasized by such names 
upon its rods as George Assad, Woo Let, Maryem and Farceedy Maalouf 

Lck ln Wnnffe- Ch r . NaS ^ f ’ Assa ? Said ’ Nahli and Naseef Salim, Foo 
ck, Wong King Carlos Gomez, Alphonzo Espinosa and others.” 

^ f< J U ^ ing ° f the ° ld Ston e Church thirty more have been 
firft L !! y of , thei I' not all promoted in their organization by the 
first church on the Public Square. Among them are one colored one 
Hunganan and one Italian Church. ’ one 

burJh' 16 tw Presbyte I ian we have referred to in the chapter on New¬ 
burgh. There was no Presbyterian preaching out there until 1821 when 
occasional meetings were held at the house of Noah Graves and it was 
m th, s house in December, 1832, that Revs. David Peet of Euclid Tnd 
Harvey Lyon organized the South Presbyterian Church. It was Congre¬ 
gational in form but attached to the Cleveland Presbytery There were 
eleven charter members, Edward and Theodocia Taylor, James and Sarah 

aild Martha Stair, John and Amy 

“P «»* ,»f *» <« «>£*"£, t 'SrSe„r “"I, £ Ce 

WL J , ys T ’ T who be g an his labors after Woodruff was the first 
stated supply. He was followed by Rev. Mathew Fox and under his 


389 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 

ministry the church became Presbyterian in form and was attached to 
the Wooster Presbytery. In 1841-42 a frame church was built near the 
present site of the Hospital for the Insane on a lot given by Judge 
Hosmer. This was the first house of worship built in the part of Cleve¬ 
land that was once Newburgh. In 1869 a brick church was built costing 
$15,000, a large sum in those days, and the building was a wonderful 
advance over the carpenter shop where the first meetings were held. 
Among the early pastors have been Revs. William McReynolds, James 
Straw, Erastus Chester, D. W. Childs, William C. Turner, Joseph S. 
Edmonds and E. Curtis. In the ’80s John Davidson, Harvey H. Pratt 
and H. B. Marble were trustees. 

Following a notice of the early churches somewhat chronologically, 
the United Presbyterian Church comes next although of a different denom¬ 
ination. This was organized in the Hancock Block at the corner of 
Superior and Seneca streets in 1843 by Reverend Mr. McLaren. The first 
ruling elders were I. Campbell, D. Pollock and J. Dodds. A small build¬ 
ing was erected for its meetings at the southwest corner of Seneca and 
Superior streets and in 1853 an expensive brick one at Erie and Huron. 
Rev. J. W. Logue was the first minister giving a part of his time to a 
church of the same denomination in Northfield Summit County. Reverend 
Logue was the father of Judge Logue of the Police and Common Pleas 
courts of Cleveland. Revs. H. A. McDonald and J. L. Althen were early 
pastors. 

The Second Presbyterian Church was organized in 1844, under a char¬ 
ter granted some years before in the Ohio Legislature, by Rev. S. C. Aiken 
of the Old Stone Church. Most of its membership came from that church 
originally. This congregation first built on Rockwell where the County 
Jail now stands. This building they sold to the Second Baptist Society 
and moved to Erie (East Ninth) Street. In 1876 this church was burned 
and two years later a fine church, seating 1,300 people, at the corner of 
Prospect and Sterling, was dedicated. David Long, Henry Sexton, Jere¬ 
miah Holt, Eli P. Morgan, Jesse F. Taintor and Samuel Mather were the 
first ruling elders, and William A. Otis, T. P. Handy and S. H. Fox 
the first deacons. Among the early pastors were Revs. Sherman B. 
Canfield, James Eells, Theron H. Hawks and Charles H. Pomeroy. Dur¬ 
ing the pastorate of the last named the roll of officers comprised many 
well known names in the annals of Cleveland. There were Leverett 
Alcott, E. I. Baldwin, Martin L. Brooks, Dan P. Eells, Erastus F. Gaylord, 
Truman P. Handy, John Mansfield, Samuel Mather and Edwin R. Per¬ 
kins, who were ruling elders, O. J. Benham, Charles W. Chase, Charles J. 
Dockstader, George G. Johnson, Charles H. Randall and Henry S. Whit¬ 
tlesey, who were deacons, and H. B. Hurlbut, J. G. Hower, S. H. Bene¬ 
dict, A. K. Spencer and E. I. Baldwin were trustees. 

The Euclid Avenue Presbyterian was an early church, organized m 
1853 with thirteen members all from the Old Stone or First Church. Zal- 
mon Fitch and Elisha Taylor were the first elders, Augustus Fuller and 
Joseph Perkins the first deacons, and Rev. Joseph B. Bittinger the first 
pastor. Among the early pastors were Revs. Oxman A. Lyman, Charles H. 
Baldwin, W. H. Jeffers and J. L. Robertson. Its church building at 
the corner of Brownell and Euclid was put up in 1853 by the Old Stone 

Church at a cost of $30,000. . 

A Welsh Presbyterian Church was organized in 1866 by John Moses, 
who was its first pastor. For various reasons its membership soon dwin¬ 
dled away The North Presbyterian Church began as a mission of the 
Old Stone Church as a Sunday school on St. Clair Street and regular 
church services were instituted as early as 1865. It built a chapel on 


390 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Aaron Street and Revs. Aaron Peck, Jr., B. P. Johnson and D. W. 
Sharts preached. Rev. Aaron Smyth was the first regular supply. In 
1872 under the pastorate of Rev. H. R. Hoisington the Sunday school had 
an enrollment of 1,000. Memorial Presbyterian Church, at the corner 
of Case (Fortieth) and Sibley, was organized in 1870 by Rev. James A. 
Skinner. The first regular pastor was Rev. Francis A. Horton, W. H. 
Vantine, John C. Grant, John C. Preston, Donly Hobart, Alfred Adams 
and Truman Hastings were the first elders; Henry T. Carline, deacon; 
and Mrs. Julia L. Ozanne, Mrs. Mary W. Hastings and Mrs. Emily A. 
Horton, deaconesses. In these latter officers we note that the age of 
progress was at hand. Walter R. Austin was auditor and Truman Hast¬ 
ings, clerk. The Woodland Avenue Presbyterian Church was organized in 
1872. Its first officers were Solon L. Severance, Ira Lewis, Marcus W. 
Montgomery and Henry James, elders; John J. Davis and William W. 
Robinson, deacons. Its first pastor was Rev. Edward P. Gardner. 
Its commodious church at Woodland and Kennard housed in the ’70s the 
largest Sunday school in the city. 

Presbyterian headquarters in the Hippodrome Building are in charge 
of Rev. C. L. Zorbaugh, superintendent. We cannot close this outline 
of the expansion of this great church in Cleveland without mentioning 
some of the ministers whose activities are more recent. Among them 
are Revs. Elliott Field, Charles D. Darling, Adelbert P. Higley, Alexander 
McGaffin, Francis De Simone, Samuel W. Griffiths, Joel B. Hayden, 
Andrew B. Meldrum, Frank H. Ferris, Julius Kish, Arthur H. Limouze, 
Eugene E. House, Fred W. Pace, Alfred J. Wright, Arthur M. Campbell, 
J. Grant Walter, Arthur C. Ludlow, E. Pugh Thomas, Harvey E. Holt, 
W. P. Thomas, Pietro A. Fant, C. L. Jefferson, Harver H. Bergen, B. R. 
King, L. F. Ruff, Frank T. Barry, Paul F. Sutphen, Louis F. Ruf and 
Doctor McIntosh. 

The First Baptist Church of Cleveland was organized in February, 
1833, by Rev. Richmond Taggart. It was attached to the Rocky River 
Baptist Association. It should be remembered, however, that the first 
sermon preached in the present confines of Cleveland was by a Baptist 
missionary, the Revolutionary soldier, Reverend Mr. Badger. The original 
members of this first church were seventeen in number, Moses White, 
Benjamin Rouse, Rebecca E. Rouse, Thomas Whelpley, Jeduthan Adams, 
John Seamon, Horatio Ranney, Leonard Stockwell, Sophia Stockwell, 
Thomas Goodman, John Malvin, Harriet Malvin, S. M. Cutler, Mary 
Belden, Harriet Hickox, Letha Griffin and Elizabeth Taylor. The first 
meetings were held in the old academy at St. Clair and West Sixth 
Street. The church was not long in getting a home of its own, for, three 
years later, a meeting house built at the corner of Seneca and Champlain 
streets at a cost of $13,000 was dedicated. When Rev. Levi Tucker, who 
succeeded Mr. Taggart, began his labors the church had grown from the 
original seventeen. Two hundred and twenty-nine had been received 
by baptism and 204 by letter. Rev. S. W. Adams was the church pastor 
from 1846 until his death in 1864. During his pastorate, in 1855, the 
Plymouth Congregational Church at the corner of East Ninth and Euclid 
was purchased and this became the church home. Among the early pastors 
were Revs. A. H. Strong, Judy L. Richmond, E. F. Willey, J. H. Walden, 
S. W Adams, J. F. Behrends, George W. Gardner and Phillip S. Moxom. 
The first deacons were Moses White, Alexander Sked, Benjamin Rouse 
Penney. A history of the First Baptist Church published in 
1922 under the direction of a historical committee consisting of A. L. 
Talcott, Mary E. Adams and H. G. Baldwin, outlines its history as follows: 
Organization organization of the Female Baptist Sewing Society, ded- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


391 


ication of first building at the corner of Seneca and Champlain, purchase 
of site corner Euclid and East Ninth, organization of Idaka Sunday 
School, organization of Idaka Memorial Baptist Church, celebration of 
the fiftieth anniversary, the union of Idaka Church with the First 
Baptist, laying the corner stone of the edifice at Prospect and Kennard, 
dedication of the same, organization of the Men’s League, organization 
of the Women’s League, celebrating of the seventy-fifth anniversary, 
contributions reaching the high-water mark for benevolence in the year 
1921, to-wit $56,862.07. Membership in 1922, 801. Idaka Chapel was 
the gift of Stillman Witt and his daughter, Mrs. Dan P. Eells. This 
was the home first of a Sunday school and then of the church mentioned. 
The present pastor of the church is Rev. David Bovington and the assist¬ 
ant pastor, Rev. H. Schuyler Foster. The trustees are Ambrose Swasey, 
W. H. Prescott, David E. Green, H. G. Baldwin, C. S. Smith, C. B. 
Ellinwood, F. W. Lovill, J. P. Mapes and C. F. Groth, and the deacons, 
John R. Owens, A. L. Talcott, T. E. Adams, C. H. Prescott, W. A. 
Stevenson, Harry Hales, Robert R. Buckley, Albert H. Price, H. C. Scho¬ 
field and Edwin F. Groth. Among the later pastors have been Revs. 
Herbert F. Stillwell, A. G. Upham, Loundes Pickard and Charles H. 
Prescott. 

Since the organization of this first church in Cleveland the Baptist 
churches have increased to eighty-six, outnumbering any other Protestant 
church in the city and equaling the number of Catholic churches. We 
must mention a few of the early churches. 

The Second Baptist Church was organized from the First Baptist 
in 1851 and was first known as the Erie Street Baptist Church. It began 
with forty-three members. The first pastor was J. Hyatt Smith, the first 
trustees, Ransom Green, V. A. Payne, H. Ranney, Peter Abbey and 
Daniel Himebaugh; clerk, Benjamin Rouse; and the treasurer, Ezra 
Thomas. They built a church at the corner of Erie and Huntington, 
which was dedicated in 1871. After this they were known as the Second 
Baptist Church. Among the early pastors were Revs. Alfred Pinney, 
D. S. Watson, Samuel W. Duncan and George Thomas Dowling. The 
Third Baptist Church came into being as the First Baptist Church of 
Ohio City and was organized in 1852. After the two cities united it took 
the name of the Third. Baptist Church of Cleveland. It began with a 
membership of eight men and twelve women. The first pastor was Rev. 
N. S. Burton; the clerk, C. A. Crumb; the treasurer, William Tompkins; 
and the trustees, John McClelland, John Honeywell and Richard Phillips. 
Its early pastors include Revs. S. B. Page, George W. Gates, William 
Carmac, A. Darrow, M. E. Hayne, W. F. Barten and J. H. Scott. In 
the same year the Superior Street Baptist Church had its inception in 
the Cottage Baptist Mission and Sunday School. A church was organized 
in 1870 with Rev. Edwin A. Taft as its first pastor. The mission was 
founded in 1852. The Tabernacle Baptist Church should be included 
among the early churches. It developed from the Scovill Avenue Baptist 
Mission which was founded in 1858. The first pastor was Rev. T. L. 
Lyon. 

Shiloh' (colored) was founded in 1865, the First German Baptist in 
1866 with Rev. Gerhard Koopman as its first pastor and Rev. Edward 
Greutzner as a later pastor, the Welsh Baptist, organized out in the 
old Eighteenth Ward (Newburgh) with thirty-six members in 1868, the 
first preachers, Revs. William Owen and Richard Evans, and the fiist 
regular pastor, Rev. S. Thomas. Among the early pastors of this church 
have been Revs. J. T. Griffiths, D. C. Thomas, Moses Wright, S. Job, 
W. Brees and W. J. Williams, and its early officers included Edward 


392 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Jones, Edward Rod way, and John Stevens, deacons, and John E. Jones, 
choir leader. This church became famous quite early for its excellent 
choir singing. Of a different denomination, the Scranton Avenue 
Free Baptist, located at Scranton and Putnam, was founded in 1868. 
The first pastor was Rev. A. H. Chase. A. K. Moulton, O. D. Patch 
and Ransom Dunn were early pastors. Trinity Baptist founded in 1872 by 
Rev. J. L. Tollhurst, and the Garden Street Mission of the First Baptist 
are identified with the early history of this church. The Baptist head¬ 
quarters are located in the Schofield building with Rev. Arc M. McDonald 
as superintendent. There are in the city, of this denomination, twenty-four 
colored churches and missions, two German, one Czecho-Slovak, two 
Hungarian, one Polish, one Swedish, one Slovak, one Italian mission, two 
Romanian and one Slovanian mission. 

Of the later ministers of this church we should mention Rev. William 
W. Bustard, pastor of the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, whose church 
has become famous by reason first of the eloquence of its pastor and 
second as having for many years among its parishioners John D. Rocke¬ 
feller, who took an active interest in its welfare. The thrift that is inherent 
in Mr. Rockefeller’s nature is shown in an incident connected with this 
church. Taking the Sunday school out for an outing at one of the 
beaches, Mr. Rockefeller interviewed the boatman who operated a pleasure 
launch giving rides out into the lake at so much per head. “How much do 
you charge?” said he to the captain. On receiving a reply, he said, “Yes, 
but how much for a thousand?” An arrangement was made by which 
all had a ride during the day much to the profit of the boatman and with 
much saving to Mr. Rockefeller over what it would have cost at the retail 
price. 


Among the later pastors of the city may be mentioned, in addition to 
Mr. Bustard, Revs. J. T. Raymond, Albert Knopf, Washington M. Page, 
J. Sims, Irving DePuy, James M. Crawford, Joseph E. Wilson, William L. 
Lemon, Horace C. Bailey, William Daude, Franklin W. Sweet, J. C. 
Walker, Howard A. Vernon, Millard Brelsford, T. W. Dons, Roy D. 
Wood, Charles Gersak, Joseph Vanek, Michael Profant, Fred J. Blake, 
Karl Jarsak, Romyer M. Green and others. 

The Disciple or Christian Church as it is now called first began its 
history in Cleveland by preaching out in Newburgh, then a separate town¬ 
ship, as early as 1828, Ebenezer Williams being the first preacher. The 
Eighteenth Ward Disciple Church was organized in that part of the 
present limits of the city in 1842. The elders have been William Hayden, 
John Hopkinson, Jonas Hartzler, F. M. Green, James A. Garfield, O. M. 
Atwater, Lathrop Cooley, John Pinkerton, J. M. Monroe, S. K. Sweet- 
man, J. H. Jones, E. D. Barclay and W. F. Spindler. These among the 
ear iy rnims te rs officiated during the first third of a century and more of 
the church life In the same year the Franklin Street Disciple Church 
on the West Side was organized by Rev. John Henry. This church 
began with thirty members. There was preaching by many pioneer evan- 
uu' Latliro P Cooley was the first pastor. Others who served 

w ^ capacity were James A. Garfield, William Robinson, 

W. D. Winter, C. C. Foote, B. A. Hinsdale, James Cannon and Alanson 
Whcox. A. J. Marvin, James Cannon, William Tousley, R. O. White, 

N ' ?i, Fl r} ler i-j nd A A bert reachout were among the early officers. 

I he Euclid Avenue Disciple Church was organized in 1843 near 
Doan s Corners. The first minister was Elder M. S. Clapp. Among the 

Hall TU rS T 6 L B - Pir * erton > C - C. Foote, J. H. Jones and Jabez 
Had, and its early officers included C. B. Lockwood, W. S. Streator and 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


393 


There are now fourteen churches of this denomination in the city, 
now denominated the Christian Church. The headquarters are in the 
Arcade with Rev. Isaac J. Cahill as executive secretary. Ministers at 
the present time having charges include Revs. Franklin D. Butchart, 
Charles N. Filson, T. E. Winter, Fred H. Schmitt, Jacob H. Golden, 
F. Hooker Groom, Clarence A. Hanna, Charles J. Pardee, Walter S. Cook, 
William N. Vickers, G. S. Bennett and Myndert Bothyl. Rev. Golden 
has a wide reputation as a speaker and leading divine. 

When there were but five Catholic families in the city, Rev. John 
Dillon organized St. Mary’s Church, the first Catholic Church in Cleveland. 
The first meetings were held on Union Lane at the location of the Atwater 
Building, erected later. Father John Dillon was the first resident priest 
and he began the project of building at once. Seeing the future growth 
of Cleveland in his mind’s eye, he raised some money in New York for 



First Catholic Church 

the building of a church here. He died in 1837 before the building of a 
church had been commenced but Rev. P. O’Dyer, who succeeded him and 
carried on the work he had commenced, continued to raise subscriptions 
and add to the fund already raised by Father Dillon. From the few 
Catholic families and from non-Catholics he raised sufficient funds to 
insure the erection of “St. Mary’s Catholic Church on the Flats.” This 
historic church on Columbus Street was completed in 1838 but before its 
dedication Rev. O’Dyer had been succeeded by Rev. P. McLaughlin and 
mass was celebrated by him in the new church in December of that year. 
The entire cost of the building, site and furnishings was $3,000. It 
may be interesting to recite some of the family names connected with this 
first church. They include Detner, Wichmann, Filias, Wamelink, Duffy, 
Alivel, Hanlon, Fitzpatrick and Mathews. At the risk of getting a little 
ahead of our story it may be added here that Mr. Wamelink, who was 
for so many years prominent in musical circles in Cleveland and as a 
dealer in musical instruments, played the organ in the old church at the 
last meeting before its abandonment. It was not a pipe organ but a reed 
instrument which he took down to the church for this occasion. 

Reverend McLaughlin was succeeded by Rev. Maurice Howard. He 
remained until 1847 when Rt. Rev. Amadeus Rappe, the first Bishop 
of Cleveland, took possession and made St. Mary’s his cathedral and 
appointed Rev. Louis De Goesbriand pastor of the church. Previous 
to the coming of Bishop Rappe, Reverend McLaughlin was the only priest 
stationed in Cleveland. Bishop Rappe was of French birth and had come 








394 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


to America as a missionary of his church and was well known over the 
Maumee Valley for his zeal as a Christian worker, a pioneer, when, on 
the recommendation of Bishop Purcell, located at Cincinnati, whose dio¬ 
cese included the whole of the State of Ohio, the diocese was divided and 
Reverend Rappe was appointed by Pope Pius IX, Bishop of Cleveland. 
From the time of his appointment the Catholic population of Cleveland 
increased rapidly, largely at first by the immigration from Germany and 
Ireland. He was a total abstainer and one of his first pastoral letters 
published in March, 1851, contained this extract: “Among the evils which 
prevail, and of which the progress and consequences are most alarming, 
is one which we have observed for years, and more especially during our 
last visitation; it is one which fills with sorrow the hearts of your pastors 
and counteracts all their efforts to promote your spiritual welfare; it is 
one which is more frightful than any calamity which could befall you; 
which threatens not only to put an end to all decent observance of the 
Sunday, but to eradicate piety and to destroy every sentiment that elevates 
and ennobles the Christian soul, to bring inevitable ruin upon reason, honor 
and fortune—the drinking shop, the sink wherein all that is good is 
buried.” 


The vigor with which the new bishop expressed his temperance senti¬ 
ments in the days when the cause had made so little progress illustrates 
the character of the man. Bishop Rappe was a real democrat and in that 
character a model pioneer. In his first pastoral letter he says to the 
clergy, from whose ranks he had been elevated: “It is indeed consoling, 
venerable brethren of the clergy, that in discharging the functions of 
a ministry so sublime and perilous, I will be seconded by your devotion, 
your talents, your virtues and your experience. For several years I have 
fought in your ranks, shared your toils, admired your zeal and witnessed 
with joy the success that crowned your efforts. It was then one of my 
greatest pleasures while associated with you in the ministry to call you 
friends, and now placed at your head, as the first sentinel of the camp 
of Israel, I desire more than ever to be regarded as your friend and 
father, rather than your superior.” 

It would be a history of achievement to follow the twenty-three years 
of his work as bishop of the Cleveland diocese. He was a truly great 
man but like all in authority he had his troubles and these led to his 
resignation in 1870. In brief, he was charged with favoring the French 
and German speaking priests over the Irish, and, finally, charges against 
his character were taken to Rome. These charges he declared to be false 
but believing that another course would bring injury to the church, he 
resigned The fact that his monument now adorns the church yard of the 
cathedral at East Ninth and Superior would indicate that the people of 
his diocese believed in him. As we have said, Bishop Rappe, when he 
assumed his duties as Bishop of Cleveland, took possession of St. Mary’s 

1 -n iSu°T> the ? atS a ?, d T made his cath edral, but previous to that time, 

1845, Rev. Peter McLaughlin, observing that the trend of the city 
was eastward purchased, out in the woods, three lots from the heirs of 
J ftui ay i estat< T. F ? ther McLaughlin had some plans drawn for a new 
SjJrSrf °? w S S ! te the corner of the present Superior and East 
S , th S p eetS but wh ^ n the buildin £ of the structure was actually in hand, 
, ap P e . secur ^. new 1 P lans New York which were followed in 
rGci rr uctl0n . Thl \ the second church building and first cathedral, 
John’^Cathedral’ W&S m 1848 and occu P ied later and named St. 

St. Mary’s on the Flats was occupied after the removal of Bishoo 
Rappe to the new cathedral by a German congregation known as St 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


395 


Mary’s of the Asumption. They remained until 1863, then it was the 
home of the French Catholics for two years. From 1865 to 1868 it was 
the meeting place of the St. Malachi Society, for two years after that 
the Bohemian Catholics, and from 1872 the Polish Catholics. This old 
building when the final service that we have referred to was held had had 
a varied history. 

Rev. Louis De Goesbriand, who was later a bishop, was the first pastor 
at the new cathedral. Connected with the early history of that church 
may be mentioned Reverends Conlan, Mareshal, Canaher, Walsh, Hannin, 
Thorpe, Carrell and Gallagher. After the resignation of Bishop Rappe, 
Father Edward Hannin of Toledo was appointed administrator of the 
diocese until the installing of the new bishop. 

Rt. Rev. Richard Gilmour, the second bishop of Cleveland, was a 
native of Glasgow, Scotland, and was born in 1824. His parents were 
Scotch Covenanters. The family emigrated to Pennsylvania. Here the 
son was converted to the Catholic faith. He was made a priest by 
Archbishop Purcell of Cincinnati, and after serving in various positions 
was on April 14, 1872, consecrated Bishop of Cleveland to succeed Bishop 
Rappe. He was a man of great force of character and as a promoter and 
defender of the parochial school system had a national reputation. Often 
attacked by the public press he founded the Catholic Universe and made 
it an organ of his church. Rev. T. P. Thorpe was its first editor and 
Manly Tello succeeded him. The bishop, although active in the dis¬ 
charge of the duties pertaining to his position in the church, did not 
become known to the general public for some time. His first appearance 
in public as a citizen was on the occasion of the mass meeting on the 
Public Square, called to give expression to the general sympathy aroused 
by the assassination of President Garfield. This meeting was held July 4, 
1881, when the stricken President was at the point of death. The eloquent 
address on that occasion by the bishop gave him a prominent place in 
the citizenry of the growing city. He died in 1891 while holding his 
position as Bishop of Cleveland. He was a man given to charity and 
after thirty-nine years of hard work in this high position, he died without 
a cent—except (as given in a comprehensive biography published in the 
paper he had founded) “the arrears of his current year’s salary, and 
without owning a foot of land, except his mother’s grave.” 

The third Bishop of Cleveland was the Rt. Rev. Ignatius Horst- 
man, who was a native of Philadelphia. His parents were natives of 
Germany. He was installed in the cathedral March 9, 1892. In 1897 
he celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Cleveland 
Diocese in a golden jubilee. This was held in St. John s Cathedral. 
Bishop Horstman’s appointment was made by Pope Leo XIII. He was 
a diligent collector of books and works of art and his fine library of five 
thousand volumes he gave to the diocese of Cleveland. He died in 
office and his funeral was attended by two archbishops, eighteen bishops 
and over four hundred priests. 

Rt. Rev. John P. barrelly was the fourth bishop of the Cleve¬ 
land diocese, installed at St. John’s Cathedral June 13, 1909. He was 
a native of Tennessee. He was a man of great scholarly attainments, and 
was secretary of the American College at Rome when appointed Bishop 
of Cleveland. It is said that he spoke Italian, French, Spanish, German, 
Greek and Latin fluently. He died in 1921 and was buried from St. 
John’s Cathedral. The home that he occupied in Cleveland, on Ambler 
Parkway, Cleveland Heights, was the gift of the priests of his parish. 

The fifth and present bishop is Rt. Rev. Joseph C. Schrembs, who 
assumed the duties of the office June 16, 1921. He presides over the 


396 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


tenth largest diocese in the United States, being exceeded only by New 
York, Chicago, Boston, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Newark, Pittsburgh, Hart¬ 
ford and Detroit. His immediate official family consists of Rt. Rev. Msgr. 
Thomas C. O’Reilly, Episcopal delegate; Rev. Patrick J. O’Connell, chan¬ 
cellor; Rev. Carl E. Frey, bishop’s secretary; and Rt. Rev. Msgr. 
Joseph F. Smith, vicar general. It would not be beyond the province of 
history to say of Bishop Schrembs that, though his work is not completed, 
in ability, eloquence, religious zeal and all that goes to make up a good 
bishop and a good citizen he is a fit successor to those who have gone 
before. The reader must remember that “history is never hysterical, 
never proceeds by catastrophes and cataclysms, and it is only by this 
that we can comprehend its higher meaning.” 

From St. John’s, in the early ’70s, fifteen Catholic parishes had been 
formed. Rev. F. M. Boff and Rev. T. P. Thorpe were pastors of the early 
day. The latter afterwards became a bishop. While pastor of St. John’s, 
Father Thorpe renovated and beautified the interior and raised the spire 
240 feet above the sidewalk. This building stands today, one of the old 
landmarks. It is of brick, Gothic in style, fronting seventy-eight feet 
on East Ninth Street and 175 feet on Superior Avenue. 

We must mention a few of the early churches organized since St. 
Mary’s and St. John’s. St. Peter’s, organized in 1853 for German speak¬ 
ing parishioners in various parts of the city; schoolhouse, pastor’s residence 
and chapel erected at the corner of Superior and Dodge (East Seven¬ 
teenth Street). Rt. Rev. Msgr. Nicholas Pfeil, rector at the present 
time. The church was built in 1859. The Convent, Sisters of Notre 
Dame, had its inception in the building of a schoolhouse in 1873. The 
convent was built in 1873. Revs. F. Westerholt and Thomas Litterst 
were early pastors. The first council consisted of John Kuhr, John M. 
Luew, Matthias Wagner and Frederick Twilling. Among the early pastors 
were Revs. James Ringed, Matthias Kreusch, Peter Kreusch, N. Roupp, 
J. H. Luhr and F. Westerholt. St. Mary’s of the Assumption (German) 
organized in 1853, to whom Bishop Rappe gave the use of St. Mary’s on 
the Flats when he removed his headquarters to St. John’s, must be 
included. St. Peter’s we have mentioned as having been organized the 
same year. St. Patrick’s was organized in 1854 by Rev. James Conlon, 
who was its first pastor. For more than ten years this was the home of the 
English speaking Catholics of the West Side. The corner stone of its 
building on Bridge Street was laid by Archbishop Purcell in 1871, and the 
dedicatory sermon was preached by Bishop Gilmour, then of Dayton, 
Ohio. Rev. M. O Callaghan followed Rev. James Conlan as pastor. The 
present pastor of this historic church is Rt. Rev. Msgr. Francis T. Moran 
who is treasurer general of the National Catholic Educational Association] 
but finds time in addition to his church and other official duties to take a 
part in the civil life of his city. He has been for some years an active 
member of the Cleveland Chamber of Industry. 

• Church ^e Immaculate Conception was organized as a mission 

m lo56 and a chapel was built at the corner of Superior and Lyman (East 
jorty-first) streets. At first services were held in a frame building at 
this locality by Revs. J. F. Solam, F. Sullivan and A. M. Martin. The 
first regular pastor was Rev. A. Sauvadet and among the early members 
were James Watson, O. M. Doran, Joseph Harkins, Thomas Mahar, Daniel 
and Dennis Mulcahy, Dennis Sheridan, James Crotty, Daniel Taylor, 
I nomas O Rieley, Patrick Fennell and Andrew McNally. Rev. T. P. 

horpe succeeded to the pastorate in 1870, being appointed by Rev. E. 
Hannin, administrator of the diocese, and the corner stone of the church 
was laid. Rev. A. R. Sidley was an early pastor. The present pastor is 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


397 


Rev. George F. Murphy. St. Bridget’s was an early church organized in 
1857 by Bishop Rappe with twenty members. A small brick building 
was erected at the corner of Prospect and Perry. Reverends O’Connor, 
Martin, Quinn, Leigh, Monaghan, Kelley, McGuire, McMahon and others 
have been connected with the early history of this church. 

St. Mary’s of the Holy Rosary was organized in Newburgh in 1860. 
A stone church was built in 1863 when there were but thirty families 
represented in the organization. Among the early pastors were Revs. 
Francis Sullivan, J. Kuhn, John Daudet and J. F. Gallagher. St. Augus¬ 
tine’s, on the Heights or South Side, was organized in the ’60s. St. 
Joseph’s (German) was organized in 1862 by Andrew Krasney and Kilian 
Schlosser of the Franciscan Fathers in America. Revs. Capistran Zwinge 
and Dominicus Drossier were early preachers. It was at first a German 
church and then Bohemian. St. Wenceslaus (Bohemian) was organized 
in 1867 and among its early pastors were Revs. A. Kresing, George 
Beranek, J. Revis and Anthony Hynek. A monastery was established in 
1868 at Hazen and Chapel streets, which was advanced to a convent in 
1877. St. Steven’s was organized in 1869 by Rev. H. Falk, who was 
followed by Rev. C. Reichlin, St. Columbkill’s was organized in 1870 
by Father O’Reilley, but in 1872 it was attached to St. John’s Cathedral by 
Bishop Gilmour. St. Malachi’s, organized in 1865; the Church of the 
Holy Family, and Church of the Annunciation, in 1870; and St. Prokops 
(Bohemian), in 1872, are among the early churches organized in the city. 

Since Father Dillon began his work eighty-six churches have been 
formed in Cleveland. There are many fine church buildings and schools, 
monasteries and convents. There are ten Polish Catholic churches, eight 
German, seven Slovak, three Slovenian, two Syrian, two colored, five 
Bohemian, four Italian, two Romanian, one Magyar, one Croatian, one 
Lithuanian and one Syro-Maronite. 

In fixing the chronological order of the founding of Cleveland’s 
early churches the Congregational churches seem to come next, but some 
authorities would put them earlier. So closely allied have they been 
with the Presbyterian Church that their distinctive character, although 
that of the Pilgrim fathers, has often been hidden by this alliance. Dr. 
Henry M. Ladd said of this his chosen denomination: “Congregationalism 
has been defined as sanctified common sense. Each church governs itself, 
but it does not stand alone; it stands for ecclesiastical democracy, pure 
and simple. It stands in the fellowship of a common masterhood, and 
a common brotherhood in the active and aggressive service of the Kingdom 
of Christ on earth. If Congregationalism had not so lavishly given itself 
away for the enrichment of other denominations, it would be stronger in 
itself today.” Again he said: “Congregationalism, poorly understood 
and greatly undervalued in the course of time found its way to Cleveland. 
In the opening days of this closing century (this was written in 1896) a 
few Congregationalists from New England blazed their way westward 
through the forests and across the rivers, to what was then the far West, 
and settled within the present borders of this city. In those days the 
minds of men in New England were so holden that they could not see 
beyond the Hudson River, and Presbyterianism and Congregationalism 
went forth hand in hand, but the latter was led blindfolded. Those were 
the days of a rude genesis; and though too frequently the Presbyterian 
Lion lay down with the Congregational Lamb inside, nevertheless Con¬ 
gregationalism was there.” 

The Archwood Avenue Congregational Church is designated by some 
early annals as the oldest Congregational church in the city and yet it was 
organized July 25, 1819, by missionaries of the Presbyterian Church and 


398 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


for nearly fifty years was connected with the Cleveland Presbytery in a 
“plan of union.” It is referred to in its early records as the Congregational 
Church of Brooklyn, was incorporated as “First Congregational Society 
of Brooklyn,” and there is a record of the meeting of this society held 
in 1831. It was a “Presbigational” Church. In the ’40s, the records show, 
a certain deacon was disciplined because he was seen coming from the 
direction of Brigg’s tavern in a state of intoxication. A man and his 
wife were expelled from the church because they believed in universal 
salvation. A deacon was brought up for discipline because of using “very 
profane language.” A resolution was offered in a meeting of the church 
and society in 1847 as follows: Resolved, that we will neither invite 
a slave-holder to our pulpit, nor welcome him to the communion table; 
and that we will have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of dark¬ 
ness, but rather reprove them. This resolution was debated and lost. 
The original membership of the church consisted of six persons. Just 
how large it had grown when this anti-slavery resolution was presented 
is not definitely known. Revs. William McLane, S. I. Bradstreet, B. B. 
Drake and Thomas Lee preached until 1840. Then came a lapse of services 
until Rev. B. Foltz became pastor. He was followed by Rev. Calvin 
Durfee. The pastorate of Rev. J. B. Allen extended from 1856 to 1867. 
Then came Revs. W. H. Rice, C. L. Hamlin, J. A. Bates, E. H. Votaw, 
J. W. Hargrave, J. M. Merrill and George H. Peeke. Reverend Har¬ 
grave was again pastor following Reverend Peeke. During his first pas¬ 
torate the present church building on Archwood was erected and the 
church home moved from Newburgh Street (Denison Avenue). The 
present pastor is Rev. Robert B. Blythe, whose pastorate is just about to 
close. The early officers include James Sears, Abel Hinckley and Hiram 
Welch, and among its members have been Dr. James Hedley and wife, 
O. L. Neff and wife, H. M. Farnsworth and wife, Dr. G. B. Farnsworth 
and wife, Alice; Francis B. Cunningham and wife, Mrs. Mary L. Turner, 
C. Day, and Zula Wheelock, Dr. Lincoln Wheelock, J. A. Tousley, Mrs. 
Ellen J. and Fred W. Sears, Mrs. Ella C. Wheelock, 'Mrs. Daisy Witten- 
myer, George S. Kain and wife, and in one family, Mrs. Mary S., Ara¬ 
bella, George IL, Wilfred, John F., Reginald, Winnifred and Samuel 
Singleton. There was Mrs. Nellie F. Laird, later Mrs. Mellon, who was 
at the head of the non-partisan Christian Temperance Union for some 
years. Mrs. Paul Kitzsteiner was president of the Ladies’ Social Union, 
under the second pastorate of J. W. Hargrave. If space would permit 
it would be interesting to give more names of those who have been con¬ 
nected with this first church. 

The present First Congregational Church was organized Dec. 21, 
1834. Among the first members were Mrs. Ursula M. Taylor, Miss Cath¬ 
erine Taylor, Mrs. Lufkin, Mrs. Jane McGuire, Miss Ester Taft (Robin¬ 
son), Miss C. H. Buxton (Skinner). A temporary house of worship 
was erected in 1835. The first pastor was Rev. John Keep. It first 
adopted the Presbyterian name but was Congregational in form. Rev. 
J. D. Pickands succeeded Reverend Keep. In 1838 forty-four members 
withdrew to form a strictly Congregational church, and three years later 
the two churches united. After the reunion Rev. S. B. Canfield was 
called to the pastorate. He was followed by Rev. C. L. Watson, and he 
by Rev. James A. Thome, who remained for twenty years and more. 
Under the ministry of Rev. S. H. Lee three missions were established and 
placed in charge of Rev. S. B. Shipman. Rev. H. M. Tenney followed 
Mr. Lee in 1880 and during his ministry the present church building 
was begun and its completion and formal dedication in December of 1893 
occurred during the ministry of Rev. fames W. Malcolm. It is located 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


399 


at the corner of Franklin and West Forty-fifth Street. To be more exact, 
it was under the ministry of Rev. A. E. Thompson, who followed Rever¬ 
end Tenney, that the corner stone of the new auditorium was laid. Rever¬ 
end Malcolm obtained a wide reputation as a popular lecturer while 
serving as pastor of this church and his lectures and writings on Lincoln 
gave him a prominence in the public eye for many years. The present 
pastor is Rev. W. F. Kedzie. 

The Euclid Avenue Congregational Church was organized Novem¬ 
ber 30, 1843, by Revs. S. C. Aiken and S. C. Cady. It was called the 
First Presbyterian Church of Cleveland. The original members were 
Cyrus Ford, Clarissa Ford, Horace Ford, Horatio Ford, Samuel Cozad, 
Hetty Ann Cozad, Elizabeth Walters, Edwin Cowles, Almena M. Cowles, 
Jonathan Bowles, Samuel F. Baldwin, Lydia Baldwin, Rhoda Clark, 
Cornelius Cookley, Harriet Cookley, Jarvis F. Hanks, Charlotte Hanks 
and Romelia L. Hanks. Cyrus Ford, Jarvis F. Hanks and Samuel W. 
Baldwin were the first elders. A large number of the first members, in 
fact all but one, were of the Congregational faith by birth and training. 
In 1852, on account of the attitude of the Presbyterian Church on the 
subject of slavery, this church withdrew and became independent and 
then Congregational. The early pastors in their order were Revs. Anthony 
McReynolds, C. L. Watson, C. W. Torrey, A. D. Barber, Albert M. 
Richardson, J. E. Twitchell and Henry M. Ladd. From being called the 
First Congregational Church of East Cleveland, on January 4, 1872, its 
corporate name was changed to the present name which heads this para¬ 
graph. The first building was erected and dedicated in 1849 on Doan 
(105th) near Euclid. This was 40 by 60 feet and cost a little over three 
thousand dollars. This became too small and a new brick church was 
built in 1867 at the corner of Logan and Euclid. This had a seating 
capacity of 600 and was eighty-eight feet in depth with a chapel in the 
rear. It cost $25,000 and was the largest and finest in the neighborhood. 
This advance came during the ministry of Rev. Albert M. Richardson. 
Rev. Henry M. Ladd began his ministry in 1883. He had been a success¬ 
ful African explorer and missionary under the American Association, 
just previous, and entered into his ministry with great energy. This second 
church soon became too small and a stone church was built in 1887. 
The idea voiced by the builders was to erect a church “good enough for 
the rich man and not too good for the poor man.” The windows in the 
new structure in memory of Captain Bradley and his daughter were the 
first of the kind in the city, showing glass folded so as to represent 
drapery. Among the active members of this church have been J. W. 
Moore, H. Clark Ford, L. V. Denis, Miss Miriam Smith, J. G. Frazer, 
President Thwing of the Western Reserve University, and Henry Ford. 
The present pastor of the church is Rev. F. Q. Blanchard. Like the Old 
Stone church of the Presbyterian denomination this church has been the 
mother church and has aided in founding a number of the later Con¬ 
gregational churches of the city. 

Plymouth Congregational Church has an interesting history. It has 
been said that when this church was organized Cleveland was a 
pro-slavery town. In 1850, Rev. E. H. Nevin was holding revival 
meetings in the Old Stone Church. He was an outspoken abolitionist 
and Benajah Barker, who was converted at these meetings, had like 
views on the subject of slavery. Barker enlisted a number of members 
of the church in the project of founding another, presumably with 
anti-slavery as one of its cardinal doctrines. They had been aroused 
by the incident of the pastor of one of the leading churches hiding 
behind a church column while a fugitive slave was arrested in the 


400 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


church and carried away into bondage. The new church was organized 
with thirty members. It was first called the Free Presbyterian Church. 
Afterwards it was styled the Third Presbyterian Church. It was inde¬ 
pendent in its government until 1852 when it became Plymouth Con¬ 
gregational Church. The first pastor was Rev. E. H. Nevin mentioned. 
The first church building was the Round Church or Tabernacle on 
Wood. This building had been vacated by the “Millerites” after their 
disappointment over the failure of the Angel Gabriel to arrive and 



Old Stone Church 


announce the end of the world in 1843. They erected a church at the 
corner of Euclid and East Ninth, where the Hickox Building now 
stands. When built this was the finest church in the city. This was 
sold to the First Baptist Society and their next home was on Prospect 
Street and Oak Place. Here they remained for twenty years. Their 
next location was at Prospect and Perry, where a fine church was 
erected. Among the early pastors have been Revs. James C. White, 
the second pastor, Samuel Wolcott, Charles Terry Collins,. George A. 
Leavitt, Livingston L. Taylor. The early members of prominence have 
been George Hall, of piano fame; S. C. Smith, merchant; L. M. Pitkin, 
iron manufacturer; L. F. Mellon, charity worker; J. G. W. Cowles, 
prominent in city affairs; M. M. Hobart, attorney; W. H. Doering, 
D. Charlesworth, A. W. Strong, J. W. Tyler, W. B. Davis, Geo.. L, 
Schryver, and S. H. Stilson. This church with a large membership 



THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


401 


but never financially strong was dissolved in 1913 and the present 
Plymouth Church at Coventry Road and Weymouth is its heir but really 
a new organization. The present pastor is Rev. Charles H. Myers. It 
was organized in 1916. 

The Welsh Congregational Church was organized in Newburgh in 
1858 at the home of William E. Jones. It began its work in a little 
frame building on Wales Street, twenty by thirty feet. It had a family 
start, for the original promoters were David I., John, Thomas D., George 
M., Evan and William E. Jones. In 1876 a fine brick church was built 
at a cost of $16,000 and the name changed to the Centennial Church 
The. services were conducted in the Welsh language. There were fifteen 
original members but only seven of them were Joneses. David I. Jones 
and his brother, John Jones, together started in a small way the mill, 
which grew into the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company. It is said the 
church services were conducted in the Welsh language “because nothing 
will touch a Welshman’s heart like the harmonious chords that swell in 
the consonants of his mother’s language.” They had no preacher at 
first. Finally the secretary of the organization, George M. Jones, was 
induced to supply the pulpit. Rev. R. Richards was another supply. Then 
Rev. W. Watkins was engaged as a regular pastor. Among the early 
pastors have been Revs. John E. Jones, W. Lewis, W. P. Edwards, 
E. Bowen, J. V. Stephens and T. Henry Jones. On the membership 
roll in 1896 there were thirty-four by the name of Jones. This church 
has recently been called upon to mourn the death of its pastor, Rev. Isaac 
T. Williams. 

Pilgrim Congregational Church located at Starkweather Avenue and 
West Fourteenth Street is designated in the early annals as University 
Heights Congregational Church. It was organized in 1859 and was at 
first undenominational. It was served by pastors from three different 
denominations. Revs. William H. Brewster, T. K. Noble, William H. 
Warren and N. M. Calhoun were early ministers, and Henry R. Hadlow, 
Dr. Charles Buffett, John G. Jennings, Dr. A. G. Hart, Martin House, 
Hiram V. Wilson, Stephen Owen, Alexander C. Caskey, and Isaac 
P. Lamson were early officers. The church united with the Congrega¬ 
tional Conference in 1862. Meetings were first held in a schoolhouse, 
then in a building on University Street. Rev. Julian M. Sturtevant was 
pastor from 1885 to 1890. Rev. Charles S. Mills was installed as pastor 
in 1891 and Rev. Dan F. Bradley, the present pastor, began his ministry 
in the church in 1905. A church building at the corner of Jennings 
(West Fourteenth) and Howard streets, begun in 1865, was dedicated 
in 1870. In 1877 this building was enlarged and in 1894 the present 
building was dedicated during the pastorate of Rev. Charles S. Mills. 
The associate pastor at this time was Rev. Irving W. Metcalf. Just 
before the dedication of this new church, Pilgrim Church Institute in 
connection with Pilgrim Church was organized. Thus with the building 
of this structure costing with its site $150,000 was put in operation the 
first institutional church in the City of Cleveland. Its success has exceeded 
the expectations of its founders. The Institute was organized Novem¬ 
ber 9, 1894, with Charles P. Olney as its president, Dr. W. J. Sheppard, 
vice president; Miss Josephine M. Hartzell, secretary; Irving W. Metcalf, 
treasurer; Henry C. Holt, auditor, and a board of trustees of twenty-four 
elected by the church and society, Pastors Mills and Metcalf, being 
ex-officio members. This first board consisted of J. J. Crooks, John 
G. Jennings, Jr., Charles L. Fish, Theodore P. Lyman, A. M. Gibbons, 
Michael Riser, F. W. Throssel, R. S. Gardner, Mrs. Charles Buffet, 
Mrs Charles F. Olney, Miss Harriet S. Kinney, Miss Jeannette Hart, 


402 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Miss Josephine M. Hartzell, Miss Eva E. Sheppard, Charles F. Olney, 
Isaac P. Lamson, J. M. Curtiss, A. D. Hudson, A. C. Caskey, W. J. 
Sheppard, Mrs. George W. Kinney, Mrs. H. C. Holt and Miss Ruth 
Curtiss. Thus the Institute became a department of the church. During 
the dedication of the new church, which continued for an entire week, 
many prominent men, who took part in the exercises, seeing the magnitude 
of the new undertaking, expressed the opinion privately that the church 
had taken on a “white elephant,” that is a burden too heavy to carry. On 
the contrary, as the writer has been informed, there has never been a 
time of financial embarrassment since the Institutional Church was 
launched. 

The activities have been many and during the first year the Institute 
maintained Fine Arts, History and Travel clubs, a literary society, kitchen 
garden and kindergarten classes, a gymnasium, with classes for men, boys, 
women and girls. There were classes in bookkeeping, business arithmetic, 
penmanship, piano and vocal music, a microscopical exhibition, and a 
reading room with an attendance this opening year of nearly 8,000. The 
recreation rooms were in evidence with an attendance of 2,354. The 
variety and scope of the institute work has been added to from year 
to year. Additional recreation room has been added by the erection of 
a new building a year ago. The Sunday school grew into large pro¬ 
portions and at one time was the largest Congregational Sunday School 
in the state. It is still large and the church membership is nearly 
1,300. Dr. Dan Bradley, the present pastor, has been prominent in the 
civic life of the city during his nearly nineteen years of service as 
pastor of Pilgrim Church. He believes in good citizenship and in all that 
makes for better government. In the changes that have come to the 
city by reason of the great increase in foreign population, he has believed 
in the power and value of the American “melting pot,” and his church 
to quite a degree is cosmopolitan. 

Mount Zion Congregational Church, the only colored church of that 
denomination in the city, was organized in 1864, something over a year 
after the Proclamation of Emancipation by President Lincoln. It was 
organized in Plymouth Church, at that time located on Prospect Street 
west of Erie (East Ninth) Street, and has ever regarded Plymouth as 
its “foster mother.” The first minister was Rev. J. H. Muse. The 
congregation built a brick church on Erie but got much in debt. This 
was sold and a modest church built on Maple Street, free from debt. 
Among the early ministers were Revs. C. E. Ruddick, A. J. DeHart, 
S. S. Calkins, S. N. Brown and Daniel W. Shaw. The present pastor 
is Rev. Harold M. Kingsley. 

On October 9, 1870, a Welsh Congregational Church was organized 
on the West Side. They met at the home of Rev. John M. Evans, had 
a Sunday school at his home on Bradford near Lorain. This is not now 
in existence. A Harbor Street mission was established in 1874 by the 
First Congregational Church, which continued for some time. 

In 1875 the East Madison Avenue Congregational Church was organ¬ 
ized with twenty-two members. This started with a mission Sunday 
school at a home on Lincoln Avenue. Rev. O. D. Fisher was the first 
pastor. He was succeeded by Herbert Melville Tenney. After a pas¬ 
torate of four years he accepted a call to Grinnell, Iowa, and Rev. William 
L. Tenney succeeded him. Revs. William A. Knight and D. T. Thomas 
were early ministers. The membership grew to some four hundred. A 
few years ago this church disbanded. The Franklin Avenue Congre¬ 
gational Church was organized in 1876 and this was the outgrowth of 
a Sunday school started in 1857. The church building was located at 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


403 


Franklin and Waverly avenues (Waverly being now West Fifty-eighth 
Street). Rev. S. B. Shipman was the first pastor. The early pastors 
have been Revs. Herbert O. Allen and others. This church was disbanded 
about the time that East Madison surrendered its separate existence. 

We have thus mentioned a few of the early churches of the Congre¬ 
gational denomination. Of the thirty-one churches in the city there are, 
besides the Welsh, Bohemian and Swedish churches. Among the pastors 
of the city may be mentioned Revs. Tobias A. S. Homme, S. Paul 
Stowell, J. Henry Horning, Andrew J. Moncal, Philip C. King, John 

G. H. Couch, Samuel Fritch, Roy E. Bowers, Howard L. Torbet, Lewis 
D. Williams, Charles J. Dole, Harry Palmer and Franklin L. Graff. Philip 
C. King is a son of President Henry C. King of Oberlin College. 

There were fifteen early German churches organized in the city, all 
evangelical, but not of the same denomination, exactly. In 1834 there 
were only fifteen German families in the city. These joined and organized 
the Schefflein Christi Church (Ship of Christ). This was the first 
German church in the city. The members first met in the old Bethel 
Building at the corner of Superior and Water streets, then at the 
corner of Hamilton and Erie (East Ninth), and then in various places 
of worship, until a fine brick church was built at the corner of Superior 
and Dodge (East Seventeenth) streets. The early pastors were Revs. 
John F. Tanka, William Busey, Edward Allard, Theodore Stenmear, 
William Schmitt, Frederick Porus, Benjamin Fieth, Henry Schorsten and 
Charles Muench. Salem Church of the Evangelical Association was 
organized in 1840, and Rev. Mr. Stroch was its first pastor. Their church 
home was at the corner of Erie (East Ninth) and Eagle. It was first 
frame and then brick. Zion Church, Evangelical Lutheran, was organized 
in 1843. The early pastors were Revs. D. Schuh, August Schmidt and 

H. C. Schwan. They located at Erie and Boliver Road. Trinity Church, 
Evangelical Lutheran, was organized in 1853. The first pastor was 
J. C. W. Lindeman and he was followed by Rev. Frederick Wynchen. 
They located on Jersey (West Thirtieth) Street. This rapidly grew in 
numbers and in the ’80s there were 1,400 communicants. Zion Church 
began as a mission of the Evangelical Association and was organized 
as a church with eight members in 1856. 

There was St. Paul’s (Evangelical United) organized in 1857 by 
Rev. Mr. Steiner, and among its early pastors were Reverends Groemlein, 
Young, Bank, Zeller and Buttner. Calvary Church (Evangelical Associ¬ 
ation) was organized in 1862 by Rev. S. F. Crowther. It was incor¬ 
porated in 1864 when located at Woodland and Perry (East Twenty- 
second) streets. The United German Church (Evangelical Protestant) 
was organized in 1860. They built a brick church at the corner of 
Bridge and Kentucky (West Thirty-eighth) streets. Emanuel Church 
of the Evangelical Association was organized in 1864. Their church 
building on Jennings Avenue (West Fourteenth Street) was dedicated 
in 1874. Among the early officers were John Herr, Jac. Weith, and 
George Becker. Zion Church (German Evangelical) was organized on 
University Heights in 1867. A church building was erected at Branch 
Avenue and West Fourteenth Street. The early pastors were Revs. A. 
Bauer, G. Boohest, O. Shetler and Albert Klein. The First German 
United Evangelical Protestant Church was organized in 1869 by 
Rev. William Schmidt and located at Ohio Street (now Central Avenue) 
and Erie (East Ninth) Street. Among the early officers were Charles 
Wable, Fred Hamm, John C. Wagner, N. Heisel, H. Keller, J. G. Denzel, 
C. Koenck, H. Schmidt, John Rock, P. Schuethelm, J. Hoffman and 
F Burgart. We will mention specifically Trinity Evangelical organized 


404 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


on East Madison Avenue (East Seventy-ninth Street) by Rev. S. J. Gam- 
mertsfelder, and Friedenskirke (Church of Peace) organized as a mission 
by the Evangelical Association in 1873. And about 1878 Trinity Evan¬ 
gelical Protestant at Case (West Fortieth) and Superior with Rev. August 
Kimmel as pastor, and St. Johns German Evangelical Lutheran on Bes¬ 
semer Avenue with Rev. August Dankworth as pastor and Oscar Schmidt 
and Frederick Hoppensack, deacons. 

Mention should have been made in advance of the foregoing paragraph 
of the First Reformed Church, which was the first German church on 
the West Side. It was organized in 1848 by Rev. F. J. Kaufholtz. A 
church building was erected. This church was independent until 1860, 
when under the pastorate of Rev. H. J. Ruetenik it united with the 
Reformed German body. A new church was built in 1863. Then as 
the German population of Cleveland increased until it became 40 per 
cent of the entire population, the church organizations increased in a 
corresponding ratio. After the First Reformed Church there was the 
Second Reformed German Church organized in 1863, the Third in 1868, 
the Fourth in 1872, the Fifth in 1872, and the Sixth in 1877. The 
First Church, United Brethren, German, was organized in 1852 and the 
Second of the same denomination in 1874. 

The variety of religious expression began quite early in the life 
of the growing city. Ebenezer Bible Christian was organized in 1852, and 
The Bible Christian Church out in the eighteenth ward (Newburgh) was 
organized in 1872. The Church of God in 1860, the First Reformed 
Church (Holland) in 1864, the True Dutch Reformed Church in 1872, 
and the Free Dutch Reformed Church in 1875 came into existence. As 
early as 1856 a Friends Church (Society of Friends) was organized 
and in 1874 a church building erected at Cedar and Sterling (East 
Thirty-second) streets. James Farmer, who always wore a broad white 
felt hat, indicative of his creed, was an elder in this church. “Jimmy” 
Farmer was prominent in Cleveland business circles, promoted and was 
the first president of the Valley Railway, built from Cleveland to Akron, 
now a part of the Baltimore & Ohio system. He was the soul of honor. 
A Church of the Unity (Unitarian) organized in 1867, and the New 
Jerusalem Church (Swedenborgian) in 1868 add to the variety. In 
the 70s The First Religious Society of Progressive Spiritualists came 
into being. 

Four Jewish or Hebrew churches belong to the early history of the 
city. The Hebrew churches of the city now number thirty-two and with 
their fine synagogues and progressive congregations, their eloquent divines, 
they are a large factor in the religious life of the city. The Anshe Chesed 
Congregation was organized with twenty-five members in 1840. Their 
location was Eagle Street between Erie (East Ninth) and Woodland. 
Rabbi Seligman Stern was the first pastor. Tiffereth Israel Congregation 
was established by Rabbi M. Kalish. This was a radical reform body. 
They met first in a hall and then built a fine synagogue on Huron Street. 
Among the early pastors were Rev. Jacob Cohn, Dr. I. Mayer,, and 
Dr. Aaron Hahn. Doctor Hahn left the ministry for the practice of 
law and is still a member of the Cleveland bar. The B’ne Yeshurun 
Congregation (Hungarian Hebrew) was organized in 1869. They first 
met in Halle’s Hall, then at 71 Michigan Street, and later in the old 
German Theatre Building. Rev. E. M. Kline was the first pastor. 
Beth Israel Chebra Kadisha Congregation (Hebrew) was organized in 
1874 on Hill Street. A division came and the Anshe Emeth was formed 
from this, on Broadway, with Rev. Henry Bernstein as pastor. Rev. Rabbi 
Moses J. Griese of the Jewish Temple Congregation was one of the most 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


405 


eloquent and influential of divines and his death was most deeply 
deplored. He became a figure of great prominence in the civic life 
as well as the religious life of Cleveland. Another in the present day is 
equally gifted and prominent, Rev. Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver. His 
addresses before civic bodies on citizen problems are equally eloquent 
and effective with those delivered before congregations of his church. 

Of the nearly six hundred churches in the city, organized since 
Rev. Joseph Badger, the Baptist, preached to unresponsive ears, before 
the beginning of the nineteenth century, the variety and scope of the 
religious life of the city is shown. Perhaps the growth of the Christian 
Science Church in the last quarter of a century with its fine church 
buildings and large congregations has exceeded in these later years all 
the rest. There are eighty-six Baptist churches, including the colored 
churches, the same number of Catholic churches, with one monastery and 
fourteen convents, fourteen Christian and two Christian Reformed 
churches, seven Christian Science churches with the same number of 
reading rooms, thirty-eight Congregational, two Dutch Reformed, eleven 
Evangelical, three Independent Evangelical, four United Evangelical, 
seven of the Evangelical Association, and forty-one Evangelical Lutheran. 
There are two Free Methodist, three Friends churches, and six Greek 
Orthodox. The Hebrew churches, as we have said, number thirty-two. 
The Holland Christian Reformed Church is represented by one organiza¬ 
tion. There are fifty-one Methodist Episcopal churches, two New Jeru¬ 
salem, two Polish National Catholic, thirty-one Presbyterian, one 
Reformed Episcopal, sixteen Salvation Army, three Seventh Day Advent¬ 
ist, seven Spiritualists, fourteen Independent Spiritualists, one Unitarian, 
five United Brethren in Christ, seven United Presbyterian churches and 
one Universalist Church. There are two of the Volunteers of America 
and sixty-four of miscellaneous denominations including the Church of 
God and others. The Methodist Church, although not excelling in the 
number of churches, has a large membership and is a particularly strong 
body among the galaxy of churches. 

The Federated Churches 

The Federated Churches of Cleveland, an organization promoted by 
the Ministers’ Union of the city, adopted its constitution at the Old 
Stone Church June 12, 1911, containing two cardinal propositions. The 
purpose being first “for comity in religious work amongst the foreign 
populations of the county, and in establishing mission centers and new 
churches.” Second, “for united and aggressive action upon religious 
and moral questions.” The constitution provides that any Protestant 
Church in Cuyahoga County may become a member by the appointment 
of delegates, namely, the pastor and one man and one woman elected 
by the governing body of the church. Sixty-seven churches were repre¬ 
sented at this organization meeting and officers and standing committees 
elected as follows: President, The Very Rev. Frank Du Moulin; vice 
president, Rev. Worth M. Tippy; treasurer, Charles E. Adams; secre¬ 
tary, Rev. N. M. Pratt; standing committees—on religious work, Rev. H. 
F. Stilwell; comity, Rev. Dan F. Bradley; social betterment, Rev. T. S. 
McWilliams; civic, Judge Frederick A. Henry; finance, F. W. Ramsey. 

The meetings of this Federation have been full of interest. The 
effort has been made to work out the “golden rule” among churches. The 
question of church extension, establishing of missions, etc., due to the 
growth of the city, a delicate and interesting problem among so many 
denominations, was taken up at once. In the first year of its life 


406 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


the Federation adopted this cardinal principle: “That the first con¬ 
sideration in all matters of comity shall be the efficiency of the work and 
evangelization of the people, rather than denominational prerogatives.” 
Conflicting claims to new fields arose. In one instance, three denomina¬ 
tions desired to enter a new residence territory in a community that 
was only able to support one enterprise. Referred to the comity com¬ 
mittee of the Federation, it was finally given to a fourth denomination, 
that at first had made no claim to it. Again: Five denominations were 
supporting churches in an old residential community that was filling 
up with foreign population. On the recommendation of the Federation 
four of the churches removed from the field and the fifth enlarged its 
activities. In some instances property had been purchased by different 
denominations in a locality and vested interests came up but these 
dissensions were ironed out by the Federation but with great difficulty. 

At its meeting on April 9, 1913, the comity committee adopted a 
set of principles to aid in its work. Among them was this one: “That 
we deem it inadvisable to locate a new church enterprise within a 
radius of one-third of a mile of an organization already well established 
on the field.” The articles also provided for submitting all questions 
of church extension to the Federation. But these are only items in 
the comprehensive work accomplished and mapped out to be accomplished 
by the Federation churches of Cleveland. The Federation has endorsed 
the Institutional Church as “next to the public schools, the most out¬ 
standing Americanization agency in the community.” There are three 
prominent ones in the city: Pilgrim Congregationa, Broadway Methodist, 
and Woodland Avenue Presbyterian. 

The presidents of the Federation in their order have been Revs. Frank 
DuMoulin, Worth M. Tippy, Judge Frederick A. Henry, Revs. Dan 
F. Bradley, J. H. Bomberger, Mr. David E. Green, Rev. Alexander 
McGaffin, Mr. Frank M. Gregg, Rev. Ferdinand Q. Blanchard, Mr. F. W. 
Ramsey, Rev. J. H. Goldner, and Rev. Gerrard F. Tatterson. There 
are now over three hundred churches in the Federation. 


CHAPTER XXIX 


CLEVELAND’S SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES 

The schools of Cleveland, unlike those of the other townships of the 
county, seemed to inherit the idea that Cleveland was a city, that is a city 
in imagination if not in fact. While the first schoolhouse was a one-room 
building with all the attributes of “the little red schoolhouse,” that univer¬ 
sity of the pioneers, quite early the idea of graded and higher instruction 
schools took form. 

The first school teacher in Cleveland was Miss Anna Spafford and the 
school room was the front room of Major Carter’s tavern. This lady 
began on the “young idea” in 1802, but, in the present limits of Cleveland, 
Miss Sarah Doan may have preceded her. She was a daughter of Nathaniel 
Doan and taught at Doan’s Corners in what was known as the Kingsbury 
neighborhood. This name came into being when James Kingsbury located 
out there to escape the sickness that ever seemed to hover about the mouth 
of the Cuyahoga. Andrew Freese in his history recites that “there is a 
tradition that the few Connecticut settlers of Cleveland set up a school for 
the five children in the settlement,” but he gives no date. He says that in 
1910, with the population at fifty-seven, there may have been a small 
school, but that the earliest school of which any record remains was taught 
in 1814 by a Mr. Capman. 

There was no public school in Cleveland, as such, until the organization 
of the city in 1836. At first the schools were supported and the school- 
houses built by private subscriptions. The first schoolhouse was built in 
1816 and by popular subscriptions as follows : T. and I. Kelley $20, Stephen 
S. Dudley $5, Daniel Kelley $10, T. and D. Miles (or Mills) $5, William 
Trimball $5, J. Riddall $5, Walter Bradrock $2.50, Levi Johnson $10, 
J. Heather $5, Horace Perry $10, John A. Ackley $5, A. W. Walworth $5, 
George Wallace $5, Jacob Wilkerson $5, Pliny Mowry $3.20, D. C. Hen¬ 
derson $15, David Long $15, Samuel Williamson $15, Alonzo Carter $15, 
John Dixon $5, N. H. Merwin $5, James Root $5, Joel Nason $3, and 
Edward McCarney, and George Pease $5 each, a total of $198.70. This 
first schoolhouse was built on the site afterwards occupied by the Kennard 
House. This was a frame, one-room building, and as a precaution against 
the pupils being drawn from their studies by outdoor attractions the 
windows were built up high so that they could not look out. The schools 
were conducted by various teachers, who had the free use of the building 
but whose services were paid by such tuition as they collected from the 
patrons. The building was also used for religious meetings and other 
assemblies as well. The Village of Cleveland, making the first move in 
the direction of public education, bought this building by returning to 
the subscribers the money contributed for the purpose and became the 
owner No action was taken by the village further than this as the schools 
continued as before, the building and its free use being the only public 
contribution to the educational system of the town. The purchase of this 
building by the village was in 1817 and it may be added that it was 18 by 
20 feet in dimensions and had a stone chimney and fireplace. The con- 

407 


408 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


temptation of a great wood fire illuminating the interior with its cheer of 
light as well as heat on dark wintry days is not at all unpleasant. In the 
Kingsbury neighborhood, by reason of the more healthful locality, the 
schools were kept in operation more regularly. 

In 1821 the citizens of the Village of Cleveland, by popular subscrip¬ 
tion, built a two-story brick Academy on the present site of Engine House 
Number One. This was a step in the direction of higher education. This 
was a very pretentious building. It had two rooms below and an upper 
room for meetings, lectures, shows, etc. In other words, it was the audi¬ 
torium. The building was of brick and had a steeple and a bell, and was 
45 by 25 feet. The first teacher in the Academy was Rev. William 
McLean. He taught reading, spelling, writing and arithmetic for $1.75 
per term, grammar and geography added for $2.75 and if Greek and Latin 



Cleveland's First Schoolhouse 

were included the tuition was $4.00 per term. As the school grew other 
teachers were added and the upper room used for higher departments. 
Harvey Rice was principal of the Academy in 1824. 

The so-called “frills,” so much discussed in later years, got into the 
schools while yet they were merely public to the extent of public build¬ 
ings for free use. In 1825 a young ladies’ academy was established, 
which advertised to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar and 
geography, painting, needlework and embroidery. Schools were established 
in various parts while Cleveland was yet a village, called free schools, which 
were supported by contributions. The village, anxious to foster schools 
in its territory, attempted to purchase the Academy, as it had the first 
school building, from the subscribers, but failed. In the winter of 1833 
and 1834 the free schools supported by charity reported that 229 children 
had attended and that the cost of operating was $131.12. The next winter 
the cost of operating these schools was $185.77. These schools had some 
aid from the village as well as from individual contributions. A Sunday 
school organized in the Old Bethel Church was turned into a day school 
because the ability to read and write, which many of the members tacked, 
was fundamental to the proper teaching of the Sunday school lessons. 
This was supported wholly by contributions and was in operation when 
Cleveland became a city. 

The City of Cleveland immediately took up the school question, 






THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


409 


appointed a board of education consisting of Silas Belden, Henry Sexton, 
and Henry H. Dodge, and voted to employ a teacher and assistant until a 
school system should be organized. R. S. Gazley was employed as the 
teacher or principal. On June 22d Mr. Dockstader introduced an 
ordinance in the city council for the levy and collection of a school tax. 
The next year, 1836, the school board consisted of Samuel Cowles, Samuel 
Williamson, and Philip Battel and in June of that year a general system 
of schools was established. The city council directed the loan of certain 
buildings and provided for the construction of others. It was decided to 
continue the elementary schools four months in the year. Three school 
districts were formed with separate schools for boys and girls. There 
were to be three male teachers for the boys and three female teachers for 



Andrew Freese 

the girls. Two more schools were provided for small children in the 
winter term. All these were free and were operated at a total cost of 
$2,830. In 1838 there were eleven schools and 588 pupils. In 1839 the 
old Academy was rented and later purchased for $6,000 and two lots 
bought for school sites on the recommendation of Harvey Rice. These 
were on Rockwell and Prospect. Buildings were erected on these sites the 
next year (1840) and these with the old Academy would seat 600 pupils 
but there were 900 to be accommodated. Thus in these early years the 
same trouble arose that has bothered the school authorities in later times, 
that of keeping pace with the rapid growth of the city. 

In the Rockwell Building there were four schools. The Senior Boys 
Department with N. A. Gray as teacher and principal, and with Elizabeth 
Armstrong as teacher of the girls; the boys primary, with Abby Fitch 
as teacher and Louisa Kingsbury as teacher of the girls. There were 270 
pupils altogether. In the Prospect School of 275 pupils, Andrew Freese 
taught the senior boys and Sophia Converse the girls, Emma Whitney 
the boys primary and Sarah M. Thayer the girls primary. In West 
St. Clair Street of 240 pupils (they called them scholars in those days), 
George W. Yates taught the senior boys and Louisa Snow the girls, 


410 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Julia Butler, the boys primary and Caroline Belden the girls. The Bethel 
School (ungraded) at the corner of Vineyard and James streets, F. J. 
Blair taught the boys and Maria Shildon the girls. There was a primary 
school at the corner of Prospect and Ontario of fifty-five boys and girls, 
which was taught by Eliza Johnson, and another primary school with 
forty-six pupils on Chestnut Street for both boys and girls. 

Mr. Freese gives a daily program of one of the schools by reason of 
showing the routine in 1840: 

A. M. 

1. Scripture Reading. 

2. English Reader Class. 

3. Porters’ Rhetorical Reader Class. 

4. Historical Reader Class. 

5. Angell’s No. 2 Reader Class. 

6. Smith’s Geography Class. 

7. Recess 

8. Second Class in Smith’s Geography. 

9. Class in Parley’s History of the United States. 

10. Smith’s Grammar Class. 

11. Second Class in Spelling. 

12. First Class in Spelling. 

P. M. 

1. Historical Reader Class. 

2. Angell’s No. 2 Reader Class. 

3. Class in Kirkham’s Grammar. 

4 .Class in Adams Arithmetic. 

5. First Class in Smith’s Arithmetic. 

6. Recess 

7. Second Class in Smith’s Arithmetic. 

8. Third Class in Smith’s Arithmetic. 

9. Class in Algebra. 

10. Class in Natural Philosophy. 

11. First Class in Spelling. 

Soon after this the School Board or Board of School Managers, as they 
were then called, prescribed a uniform list of text books for each grade. 
The reform in school furniture did not come then. There was the same 
two long lines of long seats around the room a short distance from the 
wall, the rear ones having no backs and the front ones having no fronts. 
It was not until 1845 that the two-seated pine desks were introduced. 
These in form practically as we have them today were a great improve¬ 
ment as they provided a comfortable seat and a desk for books and 
papers. The salaries of the male principals were $10 a week, and the 
week consisted of five and a half days. Until 1846 no other important 
changes occurred, the Board of Managers were bending their efforts to 
take care of the ever increasing number of “scholars,” by renting and 
equipping rooms, wherever they could be secured. Some of these were 
not of the best. It is related that in the growing school in the South, 
conducted by Booker Washington, in order to provide room, a building, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


411 


that had been used as a chicken house, was commandeered. The colored 
custodian was directed to clean it out and put in desks. “What’s that,” 
said he, “clean out a hen house in the daytime.” 

In this year of 1846 Mayor Hoadley recommended the establishing 
of a high school composed of the best scholars of the common schools. 
Many citizens opposed the plan. They held that the city council had no 
power to establish such a school and further it was maintained that it 
was wrong to tax the people for higher education. Arguments in the city 
council and about town were very heated and continuous, but the high 
school idea prevailed. The council acted and the basement of a church on 
Prospect Street was rented for the new academic department and Andrew 
Freese, principal of the Prospect School, was chosen as principal. The 
high school was opened July 1, 1846, but it was a school for boys only. 
In the spring of the next year, however, a girls department was opened. 
The cost of operating the new departure was $900 the first year, the 
salary of the principal being fixed at $400 and that of his assistant $250. 
In the year 1852 another assistant was added and the girls department 
had grown with the rest. Much credit is due Mr. Freese for the success 
of this first high school in Cleveland, but a large measure must be given 
to the boys under him and no doubt to the girls as well. They were a 
particularly live bunch. John P. Jones, later Senator Jones of Nevada, 
and Lucius Fairchild (Wisconsin) and others, who became noted in vari¬ 
ous fields of endeavor, were among them. The pupils aided in buying 
philosophical apparatus, bought the material and themselves built a small 
brick laboratory, and made some of the apparatus for use in the school. 
They published a well edited monthly called the “School Boy,” and all 
these things did much toward breaking down the prejudice against the 
high school. 

More room was the cry in 1850 and the agitation for new buildings 
began. The next year the Brownell schoolhouse was built and the year 
following opened for use with E. E. White as principal. This was 
immediately filled and more room was needed. A providential wind blew 
off the roof and this gave the school authorities the idea of adding another 
story, which they did, and so came into form the first three-story school 
building in Cleveland. This building was sold in 1863. In 1852 the 
Mayflower School was opened in a small frame building at Mayflower 
and Orange streets. Three-fourths of the pupils were Bohemian and 
could speak but little English, but they learned rapidly by associating with 
the English speaking children as well as in the class room. In 1854 a 
three-story brick schoolhouse was built at this locality and with a seating 
capacity of 500. Five years later this building was enlarged to seat 1,000 
pupils. The high school had a home of its own, when, on a lot purchased 
on Euclid, a temporary frame building was erected, which was supplanted 
in 1856 by a three-story brick schoolhouse, which was dedicated with 
appropriate ceremonies. The supervision of the schools up to this time 
. (1853) had been in the hands of George Willey, a lawyer, Charles Brad- 
burn, a merchant, and Harvey Rice, the latter from the city council, but 
the work of these gentlemen was largely a labor of love and without 
remuneration. The time had come and the increase of the schools and 
school ennumeration demanded that some one should be especially em¬ 
ployed to supervise them. 

In May, 1853, R. C. Parsons introduced a resolution in the city council 
to establish the office of Superintendent of Instruction, the Board of School 
Managers to make the selection and the council to fix the salary. Andrew 
Freese was appointed and his salary fixed at $300 per year with the 


412 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


understanding that he was to give part time to the work of supervision 
and continue as principal of the high school. Thus his salary for both 
jobs amounted to $1,300. The next year the council voted Mr. Freese 
the full $1,300 with the provision that he give his whole time to the work 
of supervision. Mr. Freese, the first superintendent of the Cleveland 
schools, held the position for eight years. The second year Ohio City 
was annexed to Cleveland. There were then 2,438 pupils of school age 
in the city, of whom 800 were enrolled in the public schools and 200 in 
church and private schools and apparently the balance had either finished 
their education or had not commenced it. Penn Street School enrolled 
195, Universalist Church School 162, Vermont Street 54, Seminary 
Building 107. Three of these schools were housed in buildings owned by 
the city. Soon after the annexation of Ohio City, three school buildings 
were built on the West Side. Pearl, Hicks and Kentucky school buildings 
were all finished in 1854, and at a cost of $7,000. All the schools of the 
West Side were transferred to the new buildings. 

The West Side Central School, an advanced common school, was 
transferred to the upper story of the Kentucky Street School. The rivalry 
that existed between Ohio City and Cleveland was inherited by the schools, 
and this West Side school, after the union of the two municipalities, 
wanted to be a high school and on an equality with the East Side High 
School. As the law only provided for one high school, the city council 
got around the problem by making this a branch of the high school. It 
was called the Branch High School, but it was absolutely independent 
and the mild evasion of the law was not attacked. Like the boy, who 
when challenged with fraud because he was selling cold pies and calling 
them hot, responded that “that was the name of them,” so the West Side 
people responded that the “Branch” High School was the name of it. In 
1859 the board of managers appointed by the city council was replaced 
by a board of education, elected by the people. The first board of educa¬ 
tion consisted of Charles Bradburn, Allyn Maynard, Charles S. Reese, 
William H. Stanley, F. B. Pratt, Nathan P. Payne, J. A. Thome, W. P. 
Fogg, Lester Hayes, Daniel P. Rhodes, and George H. Vaughn. 

This board had control of the schools on both sides of the river and 
they soon began to take on the form and general character that has, with 
enlarged and multiplied opportunities, continued until the present time. 
Cleveland had a school superintendent before it had an elective board of 
education, but Mr. Freese continued for two years after the elected and 
larger board came into being. His work in the high school before, as well 
as his work as superintendent, made him popular as the school head. 
When the new board took office, there had been marked advance in the 
schools. There was the East High School on the east side and the 
West High School on the west side. Music and drawing had been in¬ 
troduced. The grading had been carried out in the grammar and primary 
grades. The kindergarten, manual training, and much more was yet to 
come. The Civil war came and many graduates of the Cleveland schools 
went to the front, that is many in line for graduation. 

After the war East Cleveland was annexed to the city, and, as we 
have said, the high school was continued as before, adding a third high 
school to Cleveland, then Newburgh was annexed and a fourth high 
school came in, to be a part of the school system of Greater Cleveland. 
L. M. Oviatt succeeded Mr. Freese in 1861 as superintendent, and after 
two years, Anson Smythe, who had been State Superintendent of Schools, 
held the office for four years. He was succeeded by Andrew J. Rickoff, 
whose long service in the office, during which time the population of the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


413 


city advanced at a rapid rate, is interesting history. Central High outgrew 
its accommodations and the present site, then Wilson Avenue, but now 
East Fifty-fifth Street, was secured and a building erected that was 
pointed to as a model of school architecture. The general arrangement 
of the building originated with Superintendent Rickoff, whose plans were 
carried into practical effect by Capt. Levi Schofield, who was the architect. 
It was dedicated December 3, 1878. The Normal School had been estab¬ 
lished four years before. 

In 1880 under Superintendent Rickoff there was an attendance of 
nearly 23,000 pupils, distributed as follows: Bolton 384, Brownell 1,682, 
Case 1,333, Charter Oak 125, Clark 251, Crawford 38, Detroit 518, Dun¬ 
ham 68, Eagle 381, Euclid 216, Fairmount 287, Garden 227, Gordon 217, 
Hicks 833, Independence 40, Kentucky 934, Kinsman 157, Lovejoy 60, 
Madison 153, Marion 44, Mayflower 1,303, Meyer 69, North 630, Orchard 
1,482, Outhwaite 1,834, Quincy 124, Ridge 42, Rockwell 1,160, St. Clair 
1,087, South 161, Sterling 1,508, Tremont 1,196, Union Mills 211, 
Wade 973, Walnut 726, Warren 772, Woodland 75, York 52. There 
were sixty-five pupils in the Normal School, 747 in Central High, and 
211 in West High. Out of a total of 394 teachers, two were in the Normal 
School, seventeen in Central High and nine in West High. The salary 
of the superintendent was $3,000, of the principal of Central High $2,400, 
West High $2,000, Normal School $2,100, and the salary of teachers 
ranged from $400 to $625. There were special teachers receiving more. 
At this time Z. P. Taylor was principal of Central High School, J. H. 
Shultz of West High, and Oliver Arey of the Normal School. There 
were two districts and H. M. James was supervising principal of the first, 
and L. W. Day (afterwards superintendent) was supervising principal 
of the second. 

Twenty years after this period William J. Akers wrote a book on the 
Cleveland schools, which he dedicated to the memory of Charles Brad- 
burn, to whom, as he said, “more than to any other man the Cleveland 
schools owe their present greatness.” Mr. Bradburn was not an instructor 
but as a citizen, as a member of the city council, as a member of the school 
board, through periods of opposition and obstruction, he labored always 
for the advancement of the schools. The book is entitled Cleveland 
Schools in the Nineteenth Century.” Mr. Bradburn, as the first president 
or head of the board of managers chosen in 1841, looked after the busi¬ 
ness interests of the schools, but George Willey gave his attention to the 
educational work of the schools. Both men gave much of their time 
through a period of nearly twenty years. To quite an extent in later 
vears the board of education as constituted has not been given to fre¬ 
quent changes, many of its members serving for long periods . 

Of the school superintendents before the beginning of the twentieth 
century, Andrew J. Rickoff, who served for fifteen years, left the most 
lasting impression. He was recognized as a leading educator all over 
the country. He was a great organizer. He abolished the separate divi¬ 
sions for boys and girls, organized a normal school, and prepared a 
course of study providing a specific work, for each term, in each study. 
This was adopted by the board and revised from time to time. He created 
the office of supervising principals. Their duties were to have a genera 
oversight as to methods of instruction under the direction of the super- 
intendant, settlement of cases of discipline, the rendering of needed infor¬ 
mation to parents and the general public, the establishment and enforce¬ 
ment of rules for the preservation of good order about the school bus¬ 
ings, the establishment of proper classification in all the grades, and the 


414 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


transferring from grade to grade. They also gave half of their time to 
teaching. In April, 1868, a new school law was enacted, which gave the 
board of education control of all moneys raised for school purposes. 
Previous to this time authority of the city council was necessary in prac¬ 
tically all expenditures. The new law abolished the board of visitors, 
which was like the “school committee” of Colonial days, but in the 
development of a great school system it fell by the wayside as a very 
inadequate and insipid method of supervision. 

In the school year of 1869-70, the study of German was first intro¬ 
duced in the sfchools. It began in the schools of the fourth, sixth, and 
eleventh wards, these wards containing the largest German population. 
Previous to this time the study of music had made but little progress, 
being confined to the schools where the teachers were competent to take 
it up. It was now decided to make instruction in music a daily lesson. 



Andrew J. Rickoff 


N. Coe Stewart was employed to take charge of this department. His 
method was not to divide his time in an attempt to reach the pupils in 
each room direct, but to teach the teachers, usually out of school hours, 
at teachers’ meetings. It amounted to a normal music class. He in this 
way directed the teaching of music to 8,000 pupils by 160 teachers. 
Mr. Stewart became a well known figure in the schools of Cleveland. 
During school hours he taught pupils, direct, in the high schools and in 
the higher classes of the German schools. It may be mentioned that 
Mrs. N. Coe Stewart, the wife, was well known in musical circles of the 
city, and the popular winter courses of concerts organized by her and 
most successfully conducted, particularly those held in Music Hall, are a 
vivid and pleasant memory. The burning of that historic building sad¬ 
dened many hearts. 

Superintendent Rickoff was the first to employ women as principals in 
the schools. In his annual report for the school year of 1870-71 he says: 
“It can not be denied that our schools are more efficiently governed and 
more thoroughly taught than when there was a man at the head of every 
house. The improvement in the respect and attention paid by the older 
pupils to their teachers is remarkable. Classes of boys, corresponding 
to some that in times past drove one principal after another from his post, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


415 


are today so quiet, orderly and studious that it is often wondered that 
their predecessors should have ever given any trouble. This is true, not 
of one school alone, but of every school formerly distinguished for its 
insubordination. What physical force failed to control, subtler influences 
have completely mastered. It might be supposed, as indeed it has some¬ 
times been asserted, that the more equitable and thorough government of 
the schools today is owing to greater watchfulness on the part of the 
superintendent and his assistants to check the first signs of insubordination 
in the senior classes, and to the greater severity exercised in cases of 
discipline; but the fact is that fewer scholars of the advanced grades are 
referred to the office, and that less rigor is necessary than formerly.” 

In this year Miss Harriet L. Keeler and Miss Kate Stephan were 
appointed special supervisors of the two lower primary grades, and 
Alexander Forbes, who had been serving as supervising principal, retired, 
leaving two male supervisors, Henry James and L. W. Day. In the year 
following the East High School came in with the annexation of East 
Cleveland and with it two who became prominent in the history of the 
Cleveland school, Elroy M. Avery, who was acting as superintendent 
of the East Cleveland schools and Mrs. Avery, who was principal of the 
high school. It is said that when Mrs. Avery became a successful candi¬ 
date for member of the Cleveland School Board, her campaign was initiated 
and managed by her former pupils, grown to manhood, who went into 
the campaign with a vigor and directness that nothing could withstand. 
The enrollment in the Central High School, S. G. Williams as principal, 
reached over 300 and the agitation began for the new building referred 
to in a previous paragraph. 

The Normal School was placed on a firm foundation in 1874, when 
Theodore Forbes, who had previously declined the appointment on account 
of ill health, was elected principal. The graduating class of twenty-six 
young women were all given positions in the Cleveland schools as teachers 
with the exception of Miss Lina E. Jean, a colored graduate, who took 
a position in the colored high school at Washington, District of Columbia. 
Special teachers were soon employed in the Normal School, including 
Mrs. Rebecca D. Rickofif, wife of the superintendent of instruction. M. G. 
Watterson, president of the School Board and afterwards county treasurer, 
in his published report at the close of the school year in 1875, gave the 
total value of school property at nearly $1,400,000. Superintendent 
Rickofif supervised a fine exhibit of the work of the schools, which was 
prepared and sent to the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. 
Several medals were awarded and the exhibit received favorable comment 
over the land. 

In this centennial year the superintendent promulgated a set of revised 
rules for the government of the schools, which were very complete, cover¬ 
ing every phase of the school system and including some very progressive 
requirements, that have become as fixed in the government of the schools 
as are principles enunciated in the Ordinance of 1787 and the Constitu¬ 
tion, in civil government. They were sixty-six in number. Many were 
in advance of the ideas that had prevailed for a century. Number thirty- 
four recites: “In inflicting corporal punishment (which should be re¬ 
sorted to only in case of extreme necessity arising from flagrant and 
persistent disobedience), no other instrument than a common rod or 
whip shall be employed, and all cases of such punishment shall be re¬ 
ported to the superintendent, according to the form and requirement of 
blanks, to be furnished by him for the purpose. No. 36—“No proper 
school work shall be exacted as a punishment.” No. 39—“No donations 
shall be called for or permitted by the teachers in any of the schools of 


416 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


this city from the pupils for any purpose whatever, unless specially au¬ 
thorized by the board of education.” No. 60—“Whenever, on due int 
quiry and investigation, it shall appear to the supervising principal of a 
district that the attendance of any pupil, either by reason of incorrigibility 
or immoral conduct, is pernicious to the interests of the school of which 
he is a member, the supervising principal shall refer the case in full to 
the superintendent of instruction, stating the reasons which may have 
led him to that conclusion, and at the same time he shall notify the parent 
of said reference to the superintendent, thereupon, the superintendent may, 
on conference with the parent, transfer the said pupil to the Unclassified 
school, if no objection be made by the parent; but if objection be made, 
it shall be the duty of the superintendent to submit the case with all the 
necessary information pertaining thereto, to the committee on discipline, 
who shall, at their discretion, return the pupil back to the school from 
which he came, for further trial, assign him to the Unclassified school, 
or report him to the Board for expulsion, as they may deem best.” * 

The rules reciting the duties as to care of school rooms and school 
grounds were very complete and drastic as applied to the janitors. No. 
10—provided as follows: “Whenever any text book is adopted by the 
Board to the exclusion of another already in use, it shall be obligatory on 
the part of the publisher, or his agent, to exchange the former for the 
latter, for the period of two months, without cost to those pupils who 
have been provided with the latter; and it shall be the duty of the super¬ 
intendent and the principal to see that this condition is fulfilled.” Another 
rule was incorporated which did away with the suspense attending the 
delay in electing teachers. Many times in the past, after the close of the 
school year, teachers were in doubt as to their engagement for the follow¬ 
ing year, and the uncertain tenure of their positions cast a menacing cloud 
over the vacation season that should have been a time of rest and recuper¬ 
ation. This rule was No. 26—“The teachers of the public schools shall 
be elected by the Board of Education annually, at its last regular meeting 
previous to the close of the schools for the summer vacation, and shall 
hold their positions for one year unless sooner removed by the Board.” 

The present public library, now grown to such mammoth proportions 
and soon to be housed in a structure for the main library on Superior 
Avenue, that will be one of the finest in the land, is an outgrowth of the 
Cleveland public school system. It began with a free public library in 
1868. The board of education fitted up a room adjoining the rooms of 
the superintendent of instruction in Northrop and Harrington’s Block on 
Superior Street. Books of the school library and new books, purchased, 
amounting to over 6,000 volumes, were placed on the shelves and the 
library opened to the public February 17, 1869. At the formal opening 
Stephen Buhrer, mayor of the city, and E. R. Perkins, president of the 
board of education, addressed the gathered assembly. Mr. Oviatt was 
installed as librarian. In the first six months 4,000 registered and quali¬ 
fied themselves to draw books and during the first year an average of 
250 books were drawn daily. The books “embraced the whole range of 
literature.” 

In 1880 the Legislature passed a law authorizing the board of educa¬ 
tion to elect seven men to take charge of the public library. Under this 
law the board of education were authorized to regulate the number of 
assistants, fix salaries and pay the bills. A distinguished library board 
was selected as follows: Hon. S. J. Andrews, Rev. J. W. Brown, W. F. 
Hinman, Dr. William Meyer, John Hay, W. J. Starkweather, and Dr. H. 
McQuiston. Hon. S. J. Andrews was elected president. The number of 
books drawn this year amounted to 105,339 volumes, a wonderful increase 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


417 


in eleven years. At the close of the school year in 1881-82 Superintendent 
Rickoff retired from the Cleveland schools. The schools had increased in 
almost a geometric ratio. The school enumeration of the city was nearly 
59,000 and there were 27,000 enrolled in the schools. In the high schools 
there were 1,005. The expenditures amounted to $462,768.65. Publishing 
houses engaged in the school book trade were interested in the Cleveland 
schools. There was bitter rivalry. Superintendent Rickoff, who had a 
great reputation over the country as an educator, who had been super¬ 
intendent of the public schools of Cincinnati, then the metropolis of Ohio, 
and had held various positions of prominence in educational organizations' 
and was regarded as one of the leading public school men in the country, 
in connection with William T. Harris, superintendent of the schools of 



B. A. Hinsdale 


St. Louis, Missouri, and Mark Bailey of Yale College, engaged in the 
preparation of school text books. The first of these were published in 

1879. 

These books were of a high order and became strong competitors in the 
road of other publishers of school text books. Cleveland was a battle 
ground. The agents of the various publishers of school text books were 
salesmen of no mean ability and used every means to advance the interests 
of the houses they represented. Mrs. Rebecca Rickoff had assisted in the 
preparation of the text books referred to, and a very clever man by the 
name of Ruggles represented the publishers. Regardless of the merits of 
the books, which could not be denied, the agents of other publishers began 
a campaign against Mr. Rickoff, inaugurated to create sentiment against 
him. They started the cry that Cleveland had gone back to the three 
R’s of the schools of the early days, “Rebecca, Ruggles and Rickoff.” This 
senseless slogan had its effect among the unthinking and some measure 
of sentiment was created to the annoyance of the superintendent and 
bringing about a lack of cordial relations between him and the board with 
whom he had worked in harmony for fifteen years. 

The board of education elected as his successor the president of Hiram 
College, B. A. Hinsdale, who served for four years. In his first annual 


418 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


report he says: “The end of the school is the education of the pupil— 
his growth in knowledge, in mental power, and in character. As promotive 
of this end, a school or system of schools may be looked at from two stand¬ 
points—one external and one internal. On the outside we see buildings, 
apparatus, books, a course of graduated studies, a scheme of classification, 
and an organization of teachers; on the inside we see the intellectual and 
moral qualities of the teacher.” In this first year of Mr. Hinsdale’s 
administration J. H. Schneider was president of the board of education 
and he recommended that all classical studies be abolished in the high 
schools and that the course be made purely an English-German one 
His recommendations were never carried out. In this year the books 
drawn from the public library averaged 456 volumes per day. Wil¬ 
liam H. Brett assumed his duties as librarian of the public library 
September 1, 1884, and this w T as the beginning of a most efficient adminis¬ 
tration which closed only with his death. During his first year in office 
there were in round numbers, 199,000 books issued, 22,266 membership 
cards were out and there were about 46,000 books in the library. 

There was still opposition to the high school, it being charged on the 
street, in the store, and over the bar room rail that the high school existed 
for the rich, while it was supported by.the men of less means. Superin¬ 
tendent Hinsdale investigated and made a report showing that the patrons 
of the high school came from all walks of life. In Central High alone a 
large number were children of day laborers. Superintendent Hinsdale 
brought about the change of name of the Normal to the Normal Training 
School, built up the night school, and during his administration the Board 
of Education put itself on record as in favor of free text books. He 
modified the high school system in this that while heretofore a pupil enter¬ 
ing the high school was practically in charge of one teacher, under the new 
order, the pupil was assigned to various teachers, as in a college. E. A. 
Schellentrager, president of the Board of Education, said of his adminis¬ 
tration at the time of his retiring: “I regard the period of his administra¬ 
tion as one of the most beneficent in the history of our schools.” 

L. W. Day succeeded Mr. Hinsdale and found in a growing city a 
growing school. The most outstanding achievement at the start was the 
opening of a manual training school in connection with the others. This 
idea had been formulating for some time. In February, 1885, as related 
by Mr. Akers, a small carpenter shop was started in a barn on Kennard 
Street, near Euclid Avenue, for the benefit of some boys, then pupils in 
the Central High School. This was brought to the attention of a number 
of business men of the city and the manual training idea in connection 
with the schools was discussed. A stock company was formed capitalized 
at $25,000 to equip a building and charge a tuition fee just sufficient to cover 
the running expenses. This was incorporated June 2, 1885, as “The 
Cleveland Manual Training School Company.” A board of directors was 
chosen consisting of Samuel E. Williamson, Thomas H. White, N. M. 
Anderson, Samuel Mather, L. E. Holden, J. H. McBride, E. P. Williams, 
William E. Cushing, Alexander E. Brown, Charles W. Bingham, S. H. 
Curtiss, J. F. Holloway, Ambrose Swasey, Thomas Kilpatrick and S. W. 
Sessions. Judge Williamson was chosen president, Thomas H. White vice- 
president, and Newton M. Anderson, who had organized and conducted the 
little school in carpentry on Kennard Street, was elected principal of 
the school. The site on the north side of East Prospect Street was selected 
and a building erected and ready for occupancy in January, 1886. The 
opening was in February and although not yet, in actuality, a part of the 
Cleveland school system, Superintendent Hinsdale delivered an address at 
the opening. The principal made his annual report to the board of direc- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


419 


tors and not to the school board. Other schools were established and dur¬ 
ing the administration of Superintendent Day, the board of education set 
apart a fund of $6,000 for the operation of these schools. During the 
school year in 1887-88 the board of education had a loss of nearly $200,000 
by reason of a defaulting treasurer. Some of this was recovered. 

During the last years of Superintendent Day’s administration the East 
Manual Training School was in charge of E. A. Dillon, Mr. Anderson hav¬ 
ing accepted the principalship of the University School, which was just 
opened. This school was a private venture and relieved to some extent 
the overcrowding in the high schools. W. E. Roberts was principal of the 
West Manual Training School. In 1892 the library under the efficient 
management of Mr. Brett established its first branch on the West Side. 
It was located at 562 Pearl (West 25th) Street and began with 5,000 



West Technical High School 

volumes, but before the end of the year the number had increased 
to over 72,000. Superintendent Day retired with the close of the 
school year and in his last annual report he said: “It has been my 
great fortune to be connected with the work of public education in our 
city for twenty-four consecutive years. During that time the cause of 
education has steadily advanced everywhere. Especially is this true of 
public school work in the larger towns and cities. It has been the ambition 
of our city to stand well in all that is meritorious—to lead, as far as pos¬ 
sible, in all legitimate directions. That we have succeeded, in a measure at 
least, is shown by the many comments of leading educators, both American 
and foreign, by the diplomas of honorable mention received from various 
quarters and by the medals received on several occasions.” 

A new school law was passed in 1892 reorganizing the school system 
of Cleveland. It provided for a school council of seven members elected 
at large, and by this act all executive authority was vested in a school 
director elected by the people. The two departments by this act were to 
work in harmony. It was the Federal plan. The director was given power 
to make contracts but all involving expenditures of an amount above $250 
must be approved by the council. The school director must attend all 
meetings of the council and approve all acts of that body involving the 


Vol. 1-14 








420 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


expenditure of money, or veto the same as the case might be. A veto could 
be made inoperative by the vote of two-thirds of the council. The build¬ 
ing, enlarging, repairing, or furnishing of any school building, the cost of 
which would exceed $1,500 must also be determined by the council. The 
director was given the appointment of the school superintendent, he to 
appoint the teachers. At the first election under this law H. Q. Sargent was 
elected school director. Mr. Sargent appointed Andrew S. Draper, of 
New York, superintendent of instruction. Mr. Draper was previously 
commissioner of schools in New York. He was immediately active in 
bringing up the teaching force to a higher standard; but was radical and 
insistent. He did not consider the work in the attitude of Mr. Hinsdale, 
who said that all changes, no matter how numerous or important or radical, 
to be beneficent must be made opportunely and prudently, and must con¬ 
sume time. 

Mr. Draper was dynamic in his reforms. None of the supervising force 
were reappointed except Edwin F. Moulton. His reason as given was that 
their ways were not his ways. The supervisors thus removed had served 
in the Cleveland schools for many years. He introduced and insisted upon 
new methods of teaching in the classroom and gave little time to the 
teachers to become familiar with them. Nervous prostration was a preva¬ 
lent disease, epidemic in the teaching force. During his two years in the 
Cleveland schools he retired nearly one hundred teachers. He employed 
various methods, meetings, clubs—brought eminent speakers, to instruct 
the teachers in pedagogical knowledge and at the end of his first year 
required each teacher to report to him in writing what professional advance¬ 
ment had been made. Of the 850 teachers, 761 responded. The beginning 
of kindergarten work in the school came under his administration and 
at his request. The school council authorized the establishment of a 
kindergarten department in the Normal Training* School and a special 
teacher was secured for the purpose. During the administration of Super- 
intendant Draper corporal punishment, which had long been abolished in 
the school generally, was abolished in the unclassified schools. In 1893 the 
schools sent an attractive exhibit to the World’s Fair at Chicago, and 
diplomas and medals were awarded in its preparation. The supervisors 
appointed by Mr. Draper were Edwin F. Moulton, Henry C. Muckley, 
Ellen G. Reveley, Emma C. Davis, Joseph Krug and William S. Roberts 
and N. Coe Stewart, Frank Aborn and Ansel Clark were special teachers 
in music, drawing and penmanship. 

Before the end of his second year Mr. Draper tendered his resigna¬ 
tion as superintendent of schools to take effect at the close of the school 
year, he having been elected president of the State University of Illinois. 
His resignation was accepted at once. 

He was followed by L. H. Jones, who began his work during the 
summer vacation of 1894. The new superintendent made no radical 
changes, kept the supervising force and announced that he would follow 
the work as mapped out by Superintendent Draper. The annexation of 
Brooklyn and West Cleveland villages brought Landon, Watterson, Deni¬ 
son, and Ray schools into the city. Continuing the public library, as 
identified with the school system—we note that this year the Miles Park 
branch was formally opened and that, in the year, 64,590 volumes were 
issued, the earlier West Side branch issuing in the same period 
128,240 books. As showing the rapid growth of the schools, thirty 
three new school rooms were completed this year and they were 
immediately filled. Free kindergartens as a part of the public school 
system were opened in 1896. In the following year eleven were in suc¬ 
cessful operation. Director Sargent continued in the position at the head 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


421 


of the business department of the schools, of which he was the first incum¬ 
bent, for eight years, and was followed by Thomas H. Bell. 

The administration of Superintendent Jones was characterized by ability 
and thorough unremitting attention to the duties of the position. He fol¬ 
lowed more on the lines suggested by Superintendent Hinsdale. He car¬ 
ried on the work with an endeavor to constantly increase the efficiency of 
the teaching force. In his first annual report he suggested that the 
teachers should continue to study, while teaching, in order to avoid becom¬ 
ing formal and artificial. In 1896 Herman Woldmann was appointed 
Supervisor of German in place of Joseph Krug, who was compelled to 
retire because of ill health. In 1897 the director appointed another truant 
officer in addition to McBane and Kiefer. 

Director Bell was succeeded by Starr Cadwallader and Superintendent 
Jones by Edwin F. Moulton. Mr. Moulton’s appointment was in the 
nature of a promotion, he having been for some time in the work and 
familiar with the needs of the Cleveland schools. In 1905 Charles Orr 
took up the reins as director and Mrs. Sarah E. Hyre, destined to be for 
many years a prominent figure in the administration, was elected a member 
of the school board. Mr. Moulton was succeeded by William H. Elson, 
who for five years served with great ability at the head of the educational 
department of the Cleveland schools. His term expired January 7th 1912, 
in the midst of a school year, and Harriet Keeler, the first and only woman 
superintendent of the Cleveland schools, was appointed to fill the vacancy. 
She served until the close of the school year August 31, 1912. In this 
short time she demonstrated her ability, and filled the position with credit 
to herself and to the satisfaction of the public and the school authorities. 
In this connection it may be appropriate to mention other women, outside 
of the teaching force, who have been identified with the school administra¬ 
tion, May C. Whitaker, prominent club woman and social settlement 
worker, Mrs. B. F. Taylor, widow of the famous author and poet, Mrs. 
Elroy M. Avery, whom we have mentioned, and Mrs. Virginia D. Green, a 
present influential member, have been prominent in the public eye by rea¬ 
son of their efficient services on the school board. 

There came a change in school director January 15, 1912, when Director 
Orr, after a service of nearly eight years, resigned and F. G. Hogen was 
appointed. This occurred during a general shakeup in the business and 
educational administration of the Cleveland schools. Miss Keeler was 
serving as superintendent and Mrs. Sarah E. Hyre as clerk of the school 
board. On September 1, 1912, J. M. H. Frederick, former head of the 
Lakewood schools, was chosen superintendent. Mr. Frederick entered into 
the work with experience gained in a smaller field but with a keen percep¬ 
tion of the needs of the greater school system he was called upon to head. 
His annual reports were the most complete and far-reaching that had ever 
been presented. He saw the great changes that had come to the city by 
reason of the immense foreign immigration and took up the question of 
Americanization that had only been casually referred to before. The 
American school must be the American melting pot. This timely con¬ 
sideration will become more to his credit as. we later give data, that will 
show the condition of the school enumeration as he found it, changed 
somewhat with the years. He served until 1918, when a new school board 
elected F. E. Spaulding, an educator who came to the Cleveland schools 
with a national reputation. So much was he regarded that he was given 
a salary about double that previously, paid to Cleveland superintendents. 
Mr Spaulding remained some two years, when he resigned to take up 
educational work in connection with the American soldiers engaged in the 
World war over seas. He was succeeded by R. G. Jones, the present 


422 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


superintendent. And now as to the Americanization work, that so strongly 
appealed to Superintendent Frederick and to his successors as well—a 
survey of the schools, made in the school year of 1921-22, shows that fifty 
seven nationalities were represented in the public school enrollment and 
that only 35% 0 per cent were pupils born of native white parents. The 
survey in detail gives the enrollment as follows: Of native white parents, 
42,158, Russian (which leads) 11,200, Italian, 10,215, Hungarian, 8,952, 
Polish, 7,182, Czecho-Slovakian, 6,877, German, 6,681, Austrian, 6,317, 
United States Negro, 5,959, Jugo Slavian, 1925, English, 2,767, Canadian, 
1,227, Lithuanian, 1,160, Scandinavian, 926, Scotch, 900, Irish, 894, 
Roumanian, 885, all others, 2,924. Thus the children in the public schools, 
of foreign born parents, far exceed those of native born, a very significant 
fact in this great army of nearly 120,000 pupils. 



East Technical High School 


After serving for several years as clerk of the school board, Mrs. Hyre 
was made both clerk and treasurer and her last report on file gives, in its 
aggregate, the growth to which the great system of the city has attained. 
Its items in detail would be interesting here but would occupy much space. 
In brief, the total expenses of every kind for the school year amounted 
to $12,531,204.91, and of this great aggregate $7,184,950.54 were paid to 
teachers and $414,971.15 to former teachers in pensions. For the promo¬ 
tion of health was paid $77,010.62, and for transportation of pupils $24,- 
288.10. Classes were organized for the deaf, for the blind, and for the 
mental defectives. There are ninety six kindergarten schools. The pres¬ 
ent Board of Education consists of E. M. Williams, president, Reese M. 
Davis, vice-president, Mrs. Clara T. Brewer, F. William Steffen, Mrs. 
Virginia D. Green, Oscar J. Horn, and J. H. Harris. G. A. Gessell is 
clerk and treasurer, and Mrs. Sarah E. Hyre, who formerly held that 
position is now a deputy. There are in the whole school system 149 schools. 

The public library has grown in the same proportion as the schools. 
The present public library board consists of president, John G. White, 
vice-president, Arthur A. Stearns, secretary, Carl Lorenz, Clarence j’. 
Neal, W. A. Harshaw, Emil Joseph, E. R. Grasselli, and E. G. Tillotson, 
and the librarian is Linda A. Eastman. For the main library a beautiful 





THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


423 


new building is now under process of construction, east of the Federal 
Building on Superior Avenue. Its present location is the Kinney and Levan 
Building at Euclid and East Fourteenth Street. In the main and branch 
libraries are 775,262 volumes exclusive of a special collection of 70,000 
under the care of the librarians, and the number of books drawn annually 
attains to a proportion hardly dreamed of by those who have not given the 
subject much attention. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 1923, 4,797,- 
688 books were drawn out and 3,238,442 visitors were counted reading in 
the main library or its branches. It is, therefore, estimated that the total 
use of the books including the consulting of reference volumes amounted to 
11,000,000 volumes. Of the nearly ninety branches, the Broadway, 
Lorain, Woodland, Brooklyn, Carnegie West, Glenville, St. Clair, Quincy, 
and Hough Avenue lead. Very much of this wonderful growth has been 
due to William H. Brett, who was librarian of the Cleveland Public Library 
for thirty four years. Born in Braceville, Ohio, in 1846, when only four¬ 
teen years of age he was appointed librarian of the Warren, Ohio, high 
school library. He entered the army under age as a musician and is listed 
in the official army records as a private in the One Hundredth and Ninety- 
sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Following the war, with his love for 
books, and his dynamic energy, we find him in the book store of Cobb and 
Andrews of Cleveland. Here he became known to the book lovers of 
Cleveland, and in 1884 he was selected to take up the work at the head of 
the Cleveland library. From that time on, for thirty-four years, the history 
of the public library was to quite an extent his history. In 1914 he 
received this characteristic letter from Andrew Carnegie: 

“Dear Mr. Brett: 

“First, cordial congratulations upon your noble work. You give me 
the value of the libraries, but if I were going to assess your value to Cleve¬ 
land, I should have to add a cypher or two. 

“I am wondering what work you are so deeply interested in. I thot 
library work was to be your certain passport into heaven, and I hope you 
have no reason to be disconcerted in regard to your future prospects in the 
next field. 

“Remember what Franklin says: ‘The highest worship of God is 
service to man.’ 

“Long life to you, who have done so much to make it a heaven. 

“Yours ever, 

“Andrew Carnegie.” 

“November 19, 1914.” 

Mr. Brett died while in active service as librarian and his death was 
greatly deplored. A beautiful bust by Luello Varney Serrao now adorns 
the rooms of the main library. This was presented by former members 
of the Cleveland Library Board. 

An incident connected with Mr. Brett’s work may be of interest. The 
writer was familiar with the matter at the time and the facts have never 
been publicly told. Mr. Brett had secured Rabbi Gries to speak at the 
South Side branch on the value of books and the community were invited 
and a large audience was present. Among them was a young banker, who 
was not a book lover but confined his reading largely to the stock reports 
?nd financial columns of the daily papers. The next day he ordered two 
large bookcases for his home. The banker builds his vaults for the recep¬ 
tion of currency and valuables before he opens for business and in like 
manner this one, convinced of the great value of books to the family, 
had prepared for their coming. 



William H. Brett 






THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


425 


The new library building referred to in a previous paragraph will cost 
including equipment $4,000,000. Under the Bender law, passed in 1921, 
the funds of the library board are not subject to control by the budget 
commission and the board can depend upon a more certain income. 

John G. White, president of the library board, has given to the work 
much time and has donated to the library many valuable books. He is 
entitled to unstinted credit. Miss Eastman, who succeeded Mr. Brett as 


librarian, and who is ably assisted by the vice-librarian, Miss Louise Proutv, 
began as an assistant in 1896 and is carrying on the work with the same 
energy and care as her predecessor. 

The beginning of Case Library extends way back. In 1811 some seven¬ 
teen Clevelanders established a small library for the public use, but in the 
excitement incident to the War of 1812 it was lost sight of altogether. 
These men in 1824 organized the Cleveland Forum, which was devoted to 
debates, and in 1833 it developed into a lyceum and some of the old books 
were gathered up and a few new ones added and a reading room was main¬ 
tained. In 1836 a young men’s literary association grew out of this and was 
maintained for a while. They had lectures at which an admission 
fee was charged and the profits applied to the purchase of books. In 1851 
they were meeting in the Herald Building, in 1856 at 221 Superior, and 
in 1862 in the Case Building. The first lift came when William Case’s 
heirs gave the organization a perpetual lease of their quarters in the build¬ 
ing. Having previously incorporated, in 1870, the charter was changed to 
provide for five directors and Samuel Williamson, James Barnett, H. M. 
Chapin, William Bingham, and B. A. Stannard were chosen. The back¬ 
ing of these men of prominence gave stability to the enterprise and Leon¬ 
ard Case endowed it with a gift of $25,000 and in 1876 gave the associa¬ 
tion Case Block, valued at $300,000. It then took the name of Case 
Library. The growth of the library has been constant since that time. 
Charles Orr served as librarian for many years. It has never been abso¬ 
lutely free to the public; a small annual membership fee is charged. It is 
now located at 3005 Euclid Avenue with John W. Perrin as librarian and 
has on its shelves over 100,000 volumes. Mr. Perrin, who succeeded 
Mr. Orr, has been in charge for nearly twenty years. The dues are $2 
oer year. 

In 1871 The Cleveland Law Library Association was incorporated 
“not for profit” and, under the law, supported by fines collected in the 
police court. It is an adjunct of the courts. It is located in the new court¬ 
house with a fine equipment and has 45,000 volumes. It is the largest 
of its kind between New York and Chicago. It is in charge of E. A. Fea- 
zel, librarian, and Thomas Shaw, assistant, and is open daily. It is now 
supported by direct draft upon the county treasury and by sale of stock 
and membership dues. Members are required to own a share of stock 
and pay $12.50 per year in dues. 

As schools and libraries go hand in hand (and we are combining them 
in this chapter) we will mention here The Cleveland Law School, which 
is a department of Baldwin University, but located in Cleveland. It has 
577 students and as showing the larger participation of women in new 
fields forty three of them are women. As we have said Judge W fills 
Vickery of the Court of Appeals is dean. Its location is the Engineers 
Building. A memorable occasion in the history of the school was that when 
it was addressed bv William H. Taft, then President of the United States, 
now Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. w . 

Prominent in the educational advantages of Cleveland are Western 
Reserve Universitv and Case School of Applied Science. Near together 
on University Circle, Euclid Avenue, they are as yet separate institutions, 



The University School Building 








THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


427 


although in later years the question of uniting in one greater university has 
been discussed in the newspapers if not by official sanction Western 
Reserve Umversitv is a development from Western Reserve College that 
was founded in Hudson, Ohio, in 1826. This college was not under 
ecclesiastical control but its trustees and professors were of the Congrega¬ 
tional or Presbyterian faith. Both sexes were admitted. In 1877, in 
Hudson, it had an endowment of $210,000, eleven instructors and *126 
students, its presidents have been Revs. Charles B. Storrs, George E 
Pierce, Henry L. Hitchcock, and Carroll Cutler. The Cleveland Medicai 
College, established in 1844, was a department of this school. The college 
was moved to Cleveland in 1882 and its name changed to Adelbert Col¬ 
lege. Rev. Carroll Cutler continued as its president for some time after 
the removal. It was opened in Cleveland as a men’s college, but in'1888 
the College for Women was established. The university comprises Adel¬ 
bert College, the college for women, the school of medicine, formerly the 
Cleveland Medical College, the Franklin Thomas Backus Law School, 
established in 1892, the dental school, established the same year, the 
library school, established in 1904, the school of pharmacy, established 
in 1882 and affiliated with the university in 1908, the school of applied 
social science, established in 1915, the department of religious instruction, 
established by the Louis H. Severance Foundation in 1917, the graduate 
school, and the university extension course. A feature to be mentioned 
is the McBride lecture fund endowment. J. H. McBride and his children 
have given to the university $50,000. Under the provisions of this gift it 
is in the hands of trustees consisting of the president and one member of 
the faculty from each department of the university. These trustees employ 
lecturers of note from time to time each year and they have been a popular 
addition to the interest attached to the university by the students and the 
community. Famous men and women at home and abroad have been 
engaged to speak and all the lectures are free. 

Over 350 officers and instructors are connected with this great univer¬ 
sity. President Emeritus Charles F. Thwing was active for many years 
and is widely known as an educator of exceptional ability. The president 
is Robert E. Vinson, with many titles, secretary and treasurer, Sidney S. 
Wilson, and among the trustees are Samuel Mather, James D. William¬ 
son, J. H. Wade, William G. Mather, W. R. Warner, Andrew Squire, 
D. Z. Norton, C. W. Bingham, Charles F. Brush, Myron T. Herrick, Wil¬ 
liam A. Leonard, Charles L. Pack, E. W. Oglesay, Paul F. Sutphen, War¬ 
ren S. Hayden, Newton D. Baker, J. L. Severance, Alexander C. Brown, 
Warren M. Bicknell, William B. Sanders, H. P. McIntosh, F. F. Prentiss, 
and S. Livingston Mather. There is a separate board of directors for 
Adelbert College, but containing many of the members of the university 
board. Winfred George Leutner is dean of Adelbert College, Helen Mary 
Smith of the college for women, and Carl A. Hamann of the medical 
school. Walter Thomas Dunmore is dean of the law school, Frank 
Monroe Castro of the dental school, Edward Speas of the school of 
pharmacy, and James Elbert Cutler of the school of applied social 
science. Alice Sarah Tyler is director of the library school which was 
founded by a gift from Andrew Carnegie. 

Not all in the large list of instructors devote their whole time to the 
university, but its location in the heart of a great city gives advantages 
that have been grasped by the management and men and women promi¬ 
nent in many lines in the city have contributed to the success of the 
university. There is Probate Judge Alexander Hadden, professor of law; 
Dr George W. Crile, professor of surgery; Judge of the Juvenile Court 
George S. Adams, lecturer; Starr Cadwallader, former director of the 


428 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Cleveland schools, lecturer on social science; A. V. Cannon, a member of a 
great law firm, lecturer on the laws of bankruptcy; Dr. L. W. Childs, 
school physician, lecturer on medical inspection; Abram Garfield, leading 
architect of the city, on architecture and house planning; Munson Havens, 
of the Chamber of Commerce, on commercial organization; James F. 
Jackson, at the head of the Associated Charities of the city, on charity 
administration; Manuel Levine, judge of the Court of Appeals, on courts 
and social work; Carl H. Nau, expert accountant, on municipal accounts, 
etc.; John F. Oberlin, practicing lawyer, on patent, copyright and trade 
mark laws; William Ganson Rose, newspaper special writer, on business 
organization; Fielder Sanders, former railroad commissioner, on public 
utilities; William A. Stinchcomb, former county engineer, on road and 
park* building; and Miss Ruth Wilcox, of the Cleveland Public Library, 
on books and fine arts. The libraries of the university contain 150,000 
volumes. 

The number of students as shown by the report of the school year end¬ 
ing in 1922 in Adelbert College were 599, College for Women 699, gradu¬ 
ate school 31, school of medicine 100, law 201, dental school 254, library 
school 43, department of religious instruction 38, school of applied 
science 156. The total, deducting for those who have registered more 
than once, 2,744. 

Case School of Applied Science is forty-four years old. On Febru¬ 
ary 24, 1877, Leonard Case, Jhe founder, gave a trust deed setting apart 
certain lands to endow a scientific school. This deed reads in part as 
follows: “To cause to be formed an institution of learning called Case 
School of Applied Science, in which shall be taught by competent pro¬ 
fessors and teachers, Mathematics, Physical Engineering—mechanical and 
civil—Chemistry, Economics, Geology, Mining, Metallurgy, Natural His¬ 
tory, Drawing and Modern Languages and such other kindred branches of 
learning as the trustees may deem advisable.” After the death of Mr. Case, 
January 6, 1880, the school was incorporated by the following, largelv 
citizens of Cleveland: Henry G. Abbey, Alva Bradley, James D. Cleveland 
J. H. Devereux, E. H. Hale, T. P. Handv, Reuben Hitchcock, Levi Kerr’ 

H. B. Payne, Joseph Perkins, Rufus P. Ranney, W. S. Streator, James J 
Tracy, J. H. Wade and Samuel Williamson. The following year instruc¬ 
tion began in the Case homestead on Rockwell Street. In June, 1885 the 
school was transferred to the new building at its present location on Uni¬ 
versity Circle, opposite Wade Park. New buildings have been added from 
time to time. The school provides for seven courses of instruction, civil, 
mechanical, electrical, mining, metallurgical, and chemical engineering, 
and physics. There are departments of drawing, modern languages, 
English, mathematics, astronomy and miscellaneous studies. 

The present trustees are John M. Henderson, president; Eckstein Case 
secretary and treasurer; Worcester R. Warner, Charles W. Bingham, 
David T. Croxton, Amos B. McNairy, Francis F. Prentiss, and the 
faculty and instructors number eighty-three, including men of national 
and international reputation. Charles S. Howe is president and Theo- 

i 1 nm 1 ' is the dean * Its libral T contains 1 7,025 volumes and about 

I, 000 pamphlets. There are 556 students enrolled. Its group of buildings 

include the main building referred to, the Physical Laboratory, Chemical 
Laboratory, Electrical Laboratory, Power Laboratory, and Mining 
Laboratory. ^ 

St. Ignatius College originated in the mind of Right Reverend Bishop 
Gilmour, who was a great advocate of higher education. He communicated 
with the Jesuit Fathers and urged the founding of such a school and 
within a short time Rev. J. B. Neustich founded St. Ignatius College and 



Main Building of the Case School 














430 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


became its first president. The site selected was West Thirtieth and 
Carroll streets and a temporary frame structure was the first college 
building. The college grew and in 1888 a new building costing $150,000 
was completed and dedicated. At this time Rev. Henry Knappmeyer 
became president succeeding the founder, Reverend Neustich, and the 
college was incorporated and took its place among the leading educational 
institutions of the city. It follows the Jesuit system of instruction, which 
embraces the theory that education, alone, while it stimulates the intellec¬ 
tual faculties, does not exercise a moral influence on human life. The 
Jesuit theory is that the moral and intellectual must be developed side by 
side, that men are not made better citizens by mere acquiring of knowledge 
without a guiding and controlling force, and therefore that “the principal 
faculties to be developed are the moral faculties.” 

The presidents of the college in their order have been Revs. T. B. 
Neustich, Henry Knappmeyer, James La Halle, G. F. Schulte, John I. Zahn, 
George Pickel, John B. Furay, William B. Sommerhausen and Thomas J. 
Smith, the present president. The present trustees are Revs. Thomas ]. 
Smith, Edward J. Bracken, Francis J. Haggeney, Francis X. Kowald, 
Francis S. Betten, George H. Mahowald and Francis J. Vallazza. The 
officers of administration are president, Thomas J. Smith; dean, Edward J. 
Bracken; treasurer, Francis F. Kowald; librarian, Francis F. Betten; 
chaplain, Francis J. Vallazza. The faculty numbers twenty-one, of which 
Rev. Thomas J. Smith is president. Rev. Frederick J. Odenbach, as direc¬ 
tor of the Meteorological Observatory, has a wide reputation as a scientist. 
He has been with the college for many years and during that time has been 
often quoted in the public press. The results of his observations with 
the seismograph, or seismometer, have been published for many years. 
These instruments contrived for the purpose of recording the phenomena 
of earthquakes are varied and complicated in accordance with the wishes 
of the observer and Father Odenbach has become an authority on this 
subject. The studies of the college include Latin, Greek, French, German, 
Spanish, history, mathematics and natural sciences. There are 234 stu¬ 
dents enrolled. On May 17, 1923, the name of the college was changed 
to the Cleveland University. Early in 1924 the name was again changed 
to the John Carroll University. 

The parish schools of the Catholic Church number eighty-four, includ¬ 
ing Rocky River, Euclid, South Euclid and Collinwood. The enrollment 
of students is 40,000 and over. The superintendent is John R. Hagen. 
There are forty-two commercial and high schools. Catholic Latin, con¬ 
ducted by the Brothers of Mary, and St. Ignatius conducted by the 
Jesuit Fathers, are exclusively for boys. There is a home for crippled 
children known as “Rosemary.” It is the Johann Grasselli Home. The 
home consists of six acres on Euclid Avenue. The land, building and 
equipment were the gift of Mr. C. A. Grasselli, given in memory of his 
deceased wife, Johann Grasselli. This is a school and home. The Notre 
Dame and Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland have received charters authorizing 
them to carry on the work of state normal schools and to grant state 
normal certificates. These schools are supported largely by dollar sub¬ 
scriptions, a limited number giving more. The truancy laws are enforced 
by the duly authorized truancy officers of the city. Lest the number of 
schools should seem disproportionate to the total enumeration it should 
be stated that there are several departments in these various schools. There 
are thirty-seven teachers in St. Stanislaus, and twenty-six in Holy Trinity 
schools, the two larger. In the schools of the city proper there are over 
700 religious and eighty-eight lay teachers. 

Next in order in point of size, outside of the public schools, come the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


431 


day schools of the Lutheran Church. These schools are fourteen in num¬ 
ber and have an enrollment of 2,500 students. Like the Catholic schools 
they are supported by voluntary contributions. They are directly con¬ 
nected with churches of that denomination. In Bedford, Rev. H. C. 
Weidner is pastor and W. F. Goede, principal of the school. In Lake- 
wood, Rev. J. H. Meyer is pastor, and P. H. Hoffmeyer, principal. South 
Euclid, Rev. W. O. Bishop, with one teacher, and Rev. H. F. W. Brandes, 
pastor, with A. Brisky as principal and W. Bender, teacher. In the city 
the schools are manned as follows: Rev. T. H. Dannenfeld, pastor, M. 
Starke, principal, Mrs. A. Wilcoxson, and Miss E. Kreinheder, Rev. W. F. 
Doctor, O. Helwege, principal, and Miss L. Block, teacher. Rev. George 
Eyler, C. F. Liebe, principal and M. F. Feussner, and H. Birr teachers. 
Rev. L. A. Jarosi> pastor and P. Dinda, principal, Rev. F. Keller, pastor, 
and G. Deutmeyer, principal and Theodore Hinz, Ed Bewie, and A. 
Schumm teachers. Rev. P. O. Kleinhans, pastor, Adolph Liebe, principal, 
and Robert Brockman, teacher. Rev. Julius Nickel, pastor, Emil Krohn, 
principal, G. Scheiderer and Miss O. Zetzer teachers. Rev. F. Pieper, 
pastor, J. G. Markworth, principal, and H. J. Hilbig, H. G. Marksworth, 
and L. G. Beinke, teachers. Rev. H. C. Sauer, pastor, A. Fischer, princi¬ 
pal, and R. Brackesuchler, Miss C. Ferber and Miss E. Reese, teachers. 
Rev. Theodore Schurdel, pastor, P. Schelf, principal, and H. Bode, F. 
Hoerr, A. Jockel, and A. Schroeder teachers. Rev. Paul F. Schvvan, 
pastor, E. Glawe, principal, A. Baeder, and Miss L. Mertz teachers. Rev. 
John H. Wefel, pastor, George Zehnder, principal, and Emil Pohl, and 
Theodore Brauer teachers, and the school at the church under the care of 
Rev. H. Weseloh, pastor, with M. Messel, principal, and R. G. Ernest, J. 
Winter and O. Baumann teachers. These schools distributed in various 
parts of the city have the same regulation as to truancy as the others 
mentioned. There are a few sectarian schools, not included in those we 
have mentioned in this chapter, in various localities, that go to make up the 
grand total of Cleveland’s schools. 

The Ursuline Academy was organized by Bishop Rappe in 1850 and 
the same year property on Euclid Avenue purchased. It was incorporated 
in 1854 and chartered as a college with power to grant diplomas and confer 
degrees. In June, 1874 the college bought thirty-seven acres of land on the 
lake in Euclid Township and built a boarding house and college and here 
was also established a day school. Six years later there were only sixteen 
Catholic schools in the city. , . , . 

Brooks School, a military school, originated by Rev. Frederick Brooks 
in 1874, was at one time a thriving and much lauded educational institution 
of the city. Like West Point it taught a thorough course of studies other 
than military branches. Many now living in the city were students at the 
Brooks School. Reverend Brooks was followed by John S. White of Har¬ 
vard University, who conducted the school for some time. An officer of the 
United States Army was detailed to take charge of military instruction. 
This school exists only in history. An early school of higher learning was 
The Cleveland Female Seminary, under the auspices of the Protestant 
Episcopal Church. The Cleveland Academy on Huron Street, a day school 
for young ladies, founded in 1861, and the Logan Avenue Seminary 
founded in 1880, were other private schools. 

University School came into being thirty-four years ago. In 1890, 
104 men, headed by Samuel Mather, formed the organization as a corpora¬ 
tion not for profit, and its purpose was to fit boys for college. It be^an 
with a board of trustees of twenty-three members and an executive com¬ 
mittee of five At the time of its founding the need of such a school was 
imperative as the high sehools of the city had not advanced to the.r 


432 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


present stage in fitting students for college, but the school is still a flourish¬ 
ing one and ranks as one of the leading schools of its kind in the city. 
In addition to the foundation established by its incorporators, it has been 
endowed by Mrs. Harriet Benedict Sherman in memory of her son who 
was a member of the class of 1903. The proceeds of this endowment 
amounting to $300 annually is used for the purchase of books for the 
library. The school has ten acres of ground with fine buildings and an 
athletic field at Hough Avenue and East Seventy-First Street. It is a 
boarding school and is supported by tuition. The points much emphasized 
are manual training, physical training, military training and music, both 
instrumental and vocal. Henry S. Pickands is president, Alexander C. 
Brown, vice president, John B. Dempsey, secretary, Charles L. Bailey, 
treasurer, and Harry A. Peters, principal. The annual enrollment is about 
400. 

The Hathaway-Brown School, organized before the university school, 
performs the same function for girls that the university does for boys. 
Its beautiful building on East Ninety-seventh Street, occupied since 
April, 1907, is in a way a tribute to the high quality of the service it has 
performed and the consequent loyalty of its patrons, for the alumnae of 
the school were a large factor in securing the building. Patrons and 
other friends of the school aided. The preparatory and academic depart¬ 
ments of the school are very complete. Boys are admitted to the kinder¬ 
garten and primary grades to fit them for the university school and the 
public schools. The graduates of this school are scattered over the city 
and country and are known for their high ideals and influence in their 
communities. It may be interesting to name some of the class presidents 
for a decade or two back. Among them are Mrs. Ralph Perkins, Mrs. J. E. 
Ferris, Charlotte Dickerson (Mrs. S. C. Rose), Mrs. Robert Wallace, 
Florence Henderson, Lucia McCurdy (Mrs. Malcome McBride), Santa 
Ogelby (Mrs. Courtney Burton), Clara Comey (Mrs. Raymond B. Rich¬ 
ardson), Mary V. McAbee, Jeanett Cox (Mrs. Gordon Morrill), Glad>s 
McNairy (Mrs. Philip T. White), Mary Abbott, Matilda Patterson 
(Mrs. Alfred Murfey), Margaret T. Nye, Harriet Go wan (Mrs. H. P. 
Bingham), Katherine B. Nye, Margaret Jewett, Martha E. Wieber, Fred- 
ericka S. Goff and Henrietta Upson. 

The first business college was founded by Platt R. Spencer, the 
originator of the Spencerian system of penmanship, in 1848. For many 
years it was under the charge of P. R. Spencer, E. R. Felton and H. f. 
Loomis. Its advantages in fitting young people for office work soon became 
manifest and these schools have grown and kept pace with the growth of 
Cleveland’s industries. This first business college, now seventy-six years 
old, is located on Euclid Avenue at East Thirty-second Street, and is under 
the management of Ernest E. Merville, president, and Caroline T. Arnold, 
secretary. It is a flourishing school and has placed multitudes of its 
students in positions of usefulness thoughout its existence. The Edmiston 
Business College flourished on the West Side for many years. The late 
E. E. Admire was a particularly successful manager and teacher and at one 
time had the largest business college in the city. He was ably seconded 
by Mrs. Admire, who is now at the head of the Admire Business Colle°c 
at No. 2405 Clark Avenue. The Dyke School of Business, located at 
Prospect and East Ninth Street, and the Ohio Business College on Cedar 
Avenue, are among the older schools of established efficiency. Among the 
newer schools, the Wilcox Commercial School at Euclid and 100th Street, 
conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Harley Wilcox takes high rank. The Young 
Men’s Christian Association has a commercial school. Then there is the 
Churchill School of Business, the Cleveland Business University, the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 433 

Practical Business School, the Union Institute of Business, and others of 
a kindred nature. 

It has been said that the first departure from the three r’s of the 
pioneer school was to add a fourth “rso that the curriculum was in¬ 
creased to “readin’, ritin’, ’rithmetic, and religion.” In addition to the 
constantly enlarged courses of study in the high schools, colleges and 
universities, a multitude of special schools have been established with 
the growth of the city. The medical schools will be considered in another 
chapter. The first important school of music was established by Prof. 
Alfred Arthur. There are now the Glenville College of Music, the Lake- 
wood School of Music, and others. As showing the diversity, there are 
many dancing schools, a school of sewer inspectors, an auto school, a 
shorthand school,.a designing and cutting school, a school of art, schools 
of character diagnosis, engineering, lip reading, technology, tutoring, 
dressmaking, cartooning, expression, golf, dramatic and riding schools. 
To these may be added a school of salesmanship. 


CHAPTER XXX 


THE BENCH AND BAR 

“For a judge sits on the judgment seat, not to administer laws by 
favor, but to decide with fairness; and he has taken an oath that he will 
not gratify his friends, but determine with strict regard to law.” —Plato. 

This admonition of Plato given out 2,500 years ago holds good today, 
but it carries with it the reflection that the judge should know the law, 
and this consummation, “most devoutly to be wished,” is often furthered 
materially by the lawyer before him. Thus the bench and bar, the judge 
and the lawyer, are closely associated in the administration of justice. 

The first practicing lawyer in Cleveland was Samuel Huntington, who 
came in 1801. At that time the only settled portion of the county was 
east of the river. He tried some cases before justices of the peace in 
townships where those courts were established, and at the county seat 
in Warren before the higher court. These trials involved horseback rides 
through the woods often sixty miles or more. In 1803 he was appointed 
one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Ohio. While on the supreme 
bench he was elected governor of the state. He left the county in 1807 
and for some time there was no lawyer in Cleveland unless Stanley 
Griswold, out at Doan’s Corners, who might be classed as a lawyer, should 
be counted. The first regular practitioner of permanence in Cleveland 
was Alfred Kelley, who was admitted to practice in Ohio on his twenty- 
first birthday, and appointed prosecuting attorney of the new county of 
Cuyahoga on the same day. His practice was not extensive although he 
had no competition. In addition to the few criminal cases calling for his 
attention he tried some civil cases against attorneys from adjoining 
counties. The Common Pleas judges at that time were Elias Lee and 
Erastus Miles, the first in Cuyahoga County. Of the career of this inter¬ 
esting man, the first regular practicing lawyer in Cleveland, we have spoken 
in another chapter. 

It is a matter of history that the bar of Cleveland had a mighty good 
start, for the third practitioner was Reuben Wood. He was a tall, very 
tall Vermonter, not a profound lawyer but, like Abraham Lincoln, his 
power with a jury was most remarkable. He rose to be a judge of 
the Supreme Court, and then governor of Ohio, as did Samuel Huntington. 
In 1819 the Cleveland bar was increased by Samuel Cowles. He was a 
new type, cautious, industrious, a safe counselor, but lacked the dash 
of Wood and the assurance of Huntington and Kelley. He was, in 
comparison with these men, often sneered at and was dubbed “Father 
Cowles,” but he had the judicial turn of mind and in 1837 was appointed 
Common Pleas judge. He died in office. 

Leonard Case came in 1816. His practice was confined more to the 
land laws and office consultation and as his business increased he dropped 
out of the practice of law altogether, but has a place as one of the early 
Cleveland attorneys. In 1822 John W. Willey of New Hampshire came 
to Cleveland and another brilliant lawyer was added to the bar. He was 
a graduate of Dartmouth College, twenty-five years of age, and a logical 

434 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


435 


convincing speaker. He soon had a good practice and a partnership was 
formed known as Wood and Willey. Both of these men were famous 
as jury lawyers. Both rose to prominence, Wood as supreme judge and 
governor, and Willey as mayor and presiding or president judge of the 
Judicial Circuit. From 1823 to 1826 only one addition to the Cleveland 
bar was made and that in the person of Woolsey Welles, a brother-in-law 
of Alfred Kelley. The town was rather dead at that time and he remained 
only two or three years. The prospect of a canal to the city now became 
almost an assured fact and in 1826 five young men destined to be prom¬ 
inent in the affairs of the town were added to the Cleveland bar: Horace 
Foote, William C. McConnell, Harvey Rice, John W. Allen, and Sherlock 
J. Andrews. All were New Englanders save McConnell, who was a native 
of Virginia, and all save him remained to become prominent factors in 
the building up of the capital city of the Western Reserve. In the ’80s 
the four were living and residents of Cleveland. Allen and Andrews had 
been members of Congress, Andrews and Foote judges of note, and 
Harvey Rice had won fame as a legislator, in literature and in civil 
life, and in the development and preservation of local history. Andrews 
engaged in the active practice of the law for fifty-three years. This 
practice, only interrupted when in public office, carried him into prac¬ 
tically all of the counties of the Western Reserve. In fact all of these 
men were circuit riders in the law. This strenuous life was not weak¬ 
ening apparently, for Harvey Rice lived to be ninety-one years old, and 
his last years were those of a happy ideal old age. It would be outside 
the province of this chapter to mention all of his achievements except in 
brief. He became known as the father of the public school system of 
Ohio. The journal of the Ohio senate will justify this appellation. It 
is hardly an exaggeration to say that his address in the Ohio senate 
in advocacy of his school bill is the most able, masterly, and forceful 
one ever delivered in the state in favor of popular education. We quote 
a short paragraph from this address : 

“In this day, the elements of mind now slumbering among the masses, 
like a fine unwrought marble in the quarries, will be aroused and brought 
out to challenge the admiration of the world. Philosophers and sages will 
abound everywhere, on the farm and in the workshop, and many a man 
of genius will stand among the masses and exhibit a brilliancy of intellect 
which will be recognized in the circling years. It is only the educated 
man who is competent to interrogate nature and comprehend her rela¬ 
tions. Though I would not break down the aristocracy of knowledge of 
the present age, yet, sir, I would level up and equalize and thus create, if 
I may be allowed the expression, a democracy of knowledge. In this 
way and in this way only, can men be made equal in fact, equal in their 
social and political relations, equal in mental refinement and in a just 
appreciation of what constitutes man the brother of his fellow man. 

Cleveland thus in its infancy had a strong bar with Sherlock J. Andrews, 
Samuel Huntington, Wood and Willey, Leonard Case, Samuel Cowles, 
and Stanley Griswold, whom we have mentioned in a previous chapter 
as the first United States senator from Cleveland. In this list the bench 
is also conspicuous. The next addition came in the person of Samue 
Starkweather of Rhode Island, who came in 1827 and was admitted to 
practice four years later. He was collector of customs under Presidents 
Jackson and Van Buren, mayor of the city in 1844 and judge of the 
Common Pleas Court from 1852.to 1857. In 1832 Samuel Williamson, 
who was raised from a boy in Cleveland, began the practice of law in 
the village. He practiced for forty years, only stopping off for eight 
years to serve as county auditor. A year later John A. Foote ng 


436 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


his shingle inviting clients. He was a son of Senator Foote, of New 
England, who had the distinction of introducing in the senate of the 
United States the resolution that precipitated the celebrated debate between 
Webster and Hayne. Foote came into the partnership of Andrews and 
Cowles and later James M. Hoyt was added to the firm. This was a 
leading law firm in Northern Ohio for many years. Judge Andrews at 
its head was elected to Congress in 1840, was judge of the Supreme 
Court in 1848, a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1850, and 
also of the convention of 1873, which constitution was not ratified. Judge 
Andrews early won fame as an advocate and for forty years was in the 
front rank. The annals record that he employed in trials, logic, sarcasm, 
wit, ridicule, and pathos, but was never coarse or given to vituperation. “He 
was more than a lawyer, was a philosopher and a sage, a great example 
for young lawyers.” 

In 1835 a number of men were added to the list, among them Seth 
T. Hurd. Hurd had a gift of oratory most unusual and soon became 
known as a stump orator rather than a profound lawyer. His stay in 
Cleveland was only for a few years. He returned to Washington, Penn¬ 
sylvania, where he spent the remainder of his life. Another practitioner 
coming the same year was John Barr. He was a well read lawyer and 
a safe counsellor, was police judge for several years. Barr took a great 
deal of interest in Cuyahoga County history, collected manuscripts and 
data of the first settlements. H. L. Hosmer was another worthy member 
of the Cleveland bar who came that year. Like Seth Hurd, he only 
practiced law in Cleveland a few years, he then removed to Montana and 
became chief justice of the territory. He next allied himself with the 
San Francisco bar. But the most distinguished of those who allied them¬ 
selves with the Cleveland bar in 1835 was Thomas Bolton. He was a 
native of Cayuga County, New York, a graduate of Harvard, a good 
lawyer and brilliant advocate. At a time when Cuyahoga County was 
considered sure to give a safe whig majority, Bolton carried it as a candidate 
for prosecuting attorney on the democratic ticket. The old annals say of 
him that he was “a large full faced man, with ample forehead, open 
countenance, and frank demeanor. His nature corresponded to his appear¬ 
ance, and his genial disposition attracted as much admiration as his legal 
ability.” He formed a partnership with Moses Kelley, and the firm of 
Bolton and Kelley became known over the Reserve and took rank with 
the best. Bolton joined the free soil party in 1848, and assisted in 
forming the republican party in 1855, so that when elected Common 
Pleas judge in 1861 it was as a republican. 

His partner, Moses Kelley, was a native of New York and also a 
graduate of Harvard. As described in the annals “he was a man of 
extraordinary strength of character, whose stern Scotch-Irish features 
surmounting a tall spare form were the reflex of the unbending soul 
beneath. Less facile in accommodating himself to circumstances than is 
usual with Americans, no one ever doubted his great ability or his unflinch- 
ing principles.” In politics, as in the law, he was vigorous and direct, and 
was unswerving in his allegiance to his chosen political associates, the 
whigs. Philip Battel was admitted to practice about this time. He was 
a son-in-law of Senator Seymour of Vermont. That seems to be about 
as far as he got-in-law, for, although a great reader and well informed, he 
was too indolent for a lawyer in a pioneer community and went back 
to Vermont. The bar of Cleveland, including G. W. Lynd and Flavel 
W. Bingham, whom we have not mentioned and excluding those who 
have moved away, numbered in 1835 just seven. 

Another young firm that was formed about this time was that of 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


437 


Payne and Willson. Henry B. Payne and Hiram V. Willson, both from 
Madison County, New York, and both graduates of Hamilton College, 
came to Cleveland and began the practice of law. This was at a time 
when by reason of the building of the canal things began to boom and 
for twelve years it is related that the firm of Payne and Willson brought 
in the Common Pleas Court an average of 250 cases annually and defended 
as many more, being attorneys of record in the latter. Payne retired 
from the firm and the practice of law in 1845 on account of ill health 
and Willson continued until 1854, when he was appointed by President 



Henry B. Payne 

Pierce the first judge of the United States Court for the Northern District 

of Ohio. , 

Both of these young men were democrats in politics, but at the out¬ 
break of the rebellion were loyal to the Government. In a charge to 
the grand jury at the beginning of the war, Judge Willson in ringing 
sentences denounced the conspirators engaged in armed rebellion against 
the Government as traitors, and when opposition to the draft occurred 
later on he pronounced it in accordance with the Constitution and stated 
that it was the duty of all to obey the law. He died in 1866. Henry 
B. Payne rose to a prominence in the civil and political life of the city 
that overshadowed his career as an attorney, but the firm of Paye an< 
Willson, covering the early years of Cleveland, stood up to the front 
Mr. Payne, as we have said, only continuing in practice for about 

twelve years. 


438 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Franklyn T. Backus, a native of Massachusetts and graduate of Yale 
College, studied law with Bolton and Kelley and was admitted to practice 
in 1839. He formed a partnership with Jesse P. Bishop. This firm 
became prominent. Bishop was a native of Vermont and a graduate 
of Western Reserve College, Hudson, Ohio. Both of these gentlemen 
were successful and able lawyers. Getting into the ’50s, the bar was 
increased by Rufus P. Spalding. Born on the Island of Martha’s Vine¬ 
yard in Massachusetts, he graduated from Yale College in 1817, came to 
the Western Reserve and practiced law in Trumbull, Portage and Summit 
counties, served three years as judge of the Supreme Court, coming 
to Cleveland in 1852. Here he was a prominent figure in the law and 
in public life, serving six years in Congress and engaging later in successful 
literary work. 

The most distinguished member of the Cleveland bar in all its inter- 



Rufus P. Spalding 

esting history came to Cleveland in 1857, Judge Rufus P. Ranney. Born 
at Blanford, Massachusetts, in 1813, he came with the family to Ohio 
in 1824 into the woods at Freedom, Portage County. This was then 
the very heart of the wilderness. He was a self-made man, energetic 
and aspiring, studied in Nelson Academy and Western Reserve College 
at Hudson, but in the struggle for existence did not complete his course 
but, looking toward the immediate gaining of a livelihood, entered upon 
the study of law with Wade and Giddings at Jefferson, Ashtabula County. 
His progress was so rapid that in one year he passed the examination 
and was admitted to the bar. Giddings having been elected to Congress, 
Ranney was taken into the firm in his place and the firm name was 
changed to Wade and Ranney. It has been said that this was the strongest 
legal combination that had ever been seen in the West. In 1845 Ranney 
withdrew from the firm and opened an office at Warren, Ohio, where 
he at once took front rank and became the acknowledged leader of the 
Trumbull County bar. A democrat in politics he was twice nominated 
for Congress but his party was in the minority and he was defeated. In 
1850, in a selection where party politics did not have so much of a 
hold, he was elected by a large majority a member of the Constitutional 
Convention. Here his great abilities came into play and he served with 
distinguished efficiency and was called the father of the new constitution. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


439 


Soon after, he was elected by the Legislature judge of the Supreme Court 
and when the new constitution came into force was elected by the people 
to the same position. This position he held until 1857 when he resigned 
and took up the practice of law in Cleveland. This seemed to be his 
desire in life but he was continually called to public positions. The same 
year of his coming to Cleveland he was appointed United States District 



Charles C. Baldwin 


Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, but in two months he resigned 
to follow his favorite profession. There seemed to be a general conspiracy 
to keep him from permanent retirement to private life for in 1862 he 
was again elected to the Supreme Bench, which he accepted with great 
reluctance, serving two years and again resigning to follow the practice 
of law. He was the nominee of his party for governor in 1859, but was 
defeated by William Dennison. His desire was to follow his favorite 
profession. His work upon the Supreme bench was of a high order and 
his decisions are among the ablest ever promulgated by that august 
body. He ranks in history as one of the great jurists of the nation. Judge 



440 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Ranney died in 1891. He held many positions of honor but his pride 
in life was to be known as a good lawyer. 

Previous to the coming of Judge Ranney we note the addition to the 
Cleveland bar of F. J. Prentiss, who came in 1840, Charles L. Fish, and 
Samuel Mather, who were admitted to the bar in 1844, the second to 
be known as a business man rather than a legal practitioner and the 
third to continue in the practice of law exclusively for many years. Of 
Mr. Prentiss we will speak later. Mr. Fish was noted for his long drawn 
petitions. Some of his petitions recited the life history of the client and 
plaintiff in the case. It was related that one judge, in an effort to correct 
this somewhat prevalent fault among attorneys, rendered a decision to 
the effect that any matter contained in a petition not germane to the 
case was an evidence of fraud. 

In 1848 the Superior Court of Cleveland was established with certain 
jurisdiction, which relieved the Common Pleas of a portion of its docket. 
This lasted two years with Sherlock J. Andrews as the only judge. Another 
court of the same name and much the same jurisdiction was established 
in 1873 with Gershom M. Barber, Seneca O. Griswold and James M. 
Jones as judges. This was also abolished by law after two years of trial. 

In 1854-55 two men, who were afterwards judges of the Common 
Pleas Court, were added to the Cleveland bar, John W. Heisley and 
J. E. Ingersoll, the latter was the father of the late Alvin F. Ingersoll 
of the Court of Appeals. In the next five years and up to the breaking 
out of the Civil war may be mentioned Joseph M. Poe, whose connection 
with the law was largely as a magistrate of the justice court, Lewis W. 
Ford, Charles C. Baldwin, William W. Cushing, William V. Tousley, 
J. H. Hardy, John C. Hale and A. T. Brinsmade. Of this list John C. Hale 
was elevated to the bench, being for many years an able jurist of the 
Circuit Court, now styled the Court of Appeals. Mr. Baldwin preceded 
him, being one of the first judges of the new Circuit Court, and Mr. Brins¬ 
made embraced politics as a side issue, serving as a member of the 
Legislature and being active in political campaigns. Mr. Hardy continued 
until his death in the practice of the law but like many engaged in that 
profession promoted many business enterprises. He was president of 
the first street railway line in Cleveland. Mr. Tousley engaged in general 
practice and was always on the fighting line in a law suit. Once opposed 
m a law suit by “Bill” Hackney, who had come to Cleveland from the 
Far West and who was sometimes given to rough expressions, he turned 
on the wild westerner with: “Retract that statement or I’ll jump down 
your throat and stamp out your intestines.” He did not propose to have 
any one outdo him in the personal amenities of a law suit. It may be 
added that Tousley was small in stature and Hackney’s mouth given to 
large vocal utterances. 

• ^ lay a native of Newburgh, was admitted to the bar 

in 1862. His parents were natives of Massachusetts and came to Cleve¬ 
land in 1815. He began the active practice of the law in 1874 and was 
known by his power of oratory as well as his good legal mind. In 1888 
P an * e ^ R- Tilden as probate judge, after that gentleman 
had held the office for thirty-three years. This position he held until his 
death when he was succeeded by the present incumbent of that office, 
Alexander Hadden. The following year four men were added to the 
Cleveland bar, J. F. Herrick, M. G. Watterson, L. A. Russell, and E. D. 
Stark, and1 in 1864, Conway W. Noble, J. M. Henderson, and John P. 
Green Mr Green was the first colored man to become a member of 
the Cleveland bar and he is still in active practice; Mr. Noble became 
Common Pleas judge, and Mr. Henderson soon took rank as one of 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


441 


the leading members of the bar, the law firm of Henderson and Kline was 
for long a leading one in the city; he is now the senior member of the 
firm of Henderson, Quail, Siddall and Morgan. 

James H. Hoyt and Homer H. McKeehan, while distinguished members 
of the bar, but the first of an earlier generation, acquired distinction, aside 
from their law practice, as after dinner speakers. Mr. McKeehan has 
served as president of the bar association 

In the five years following, the additions to the legal fraternity of 
Cleveland included S. E. Williamson, Samuel M. Eddy, George H. Foster, 



Samuel Williamson 


Carlos M. Stone, William G. Rose, A. T. Brewer, Arnold Green, George 
T. Chapman, and Stevenson Burke. The last named had won a name 
and fame before making Cleveland his home. Stevenson Burke was 
admitted to practice in 1848 and began his career as a lawyer in Elyria, 
Lorain County. His success was brilliant from the start. When only 
twenty-six years of age he had the largest practice of any lawyer in 
the county and in 1862 was elected Common Pleas judge. He was reelected 
and in the midst of his second term resigned to remove to Cleveland and 
resume practice. His first partnership was with F. T. Backus and E. J. 
Estep and his second with William B. Sanders and J. E. Ingersoll. A 
review of the activities of Judge Burke, individually, and in connection 
with these firms, would be a large history in itself. Outside of the 
many railroad and mining cases, in connection with which he became a 


442 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


large owner, the Oberlin-Wellington rescue slave case is best remembered. 
He conducted the negotiations for William H. Vanderbilt which resulted 
in the purchase of the Nickel Plate Railway. Samuel (Sam) Eddy became 
known as the most brilliant cross-examiner of the bar. His study of 
human nature was an exact science made practical. He lived in the 
experiences of the court room. At one time he was trying a case for 
Judge Jones, who had retired from the bench and engaged in practice. 
The judge sat behind him at the trial table and took notes from the 
testimony and as was often the practice in those days had deposited his 
silk hat on the carpet at the right of his chair. Eddy was examining 
a wild Irishman with rapid fire questions inserted between rapid fire 
answers. In the midst of the cross fire he turned to spit and mistook 
the hat for a cuspidor. Continuing his volley of questions he caught 
up the hat and, as the safety of his endeavor depended upon keeping the 
judge supremely busy with his notes, the questions flew with greater 
rapidity as he hysterically mopped the interior with his pocket handker¬ 
chief to the amusement of the spectators. The hat was restored to its 
original place leaving the judge in ignorance of the catastrophe that had 
overtaken his shining tile. 

Carlos M. Stone, of the list, served for many years on the Common 
Pleas bench; a mention of his career has been given in a former chapter. 
William G. Rose was not identified with the legal profession so much 
as with the business and civic life of the city. S. E. Williamson and 
A. T. Brewer immediately took high rank in the profession. George 
H. Foster served the county in the State Legislature and with this inter¬ 
ruption continued in practice during his lifetime. Arnold Green had a 
large general practice. A personal episode in his practice came to a head 
when a newspaper of the city that became offended at him, continued to 
publish his name as “a Green.” He sued, recovered a large judgment, was 
successful in all the courts including the Supreme Court and the judgment 
was paid. His widow, Mrs. Virginia Green, is the present efficient 
member of the school board of the city. George T. Chapman, aside from 
the practice of his profession, was a member of the State Senate in the 
Sixty-fifth General Assembly. 

Previous to the organization of the County of Cuyahoga but after its 
erection, the judges of the Common Pleas here were Nathan Perry, 
Augustus Gilbert, and Timothy Doane. The judges after the county 
was organized with Cleveland as the county seat and up to the time 
when the new constitution was adopted, were Elias Lee, Erastus Miles, 
John H. Strong, Thomas Cord, Willoughby, Samuel Williamson, Isaac 
M. Morgan, Nehemiah Allen, Willoughby, Watrous Usher, Reuben Wood, 
a president judge, Simeon Fuller, Willoughby, Josiah Barber, Frederick 
Coe, Daniel Warren, Benjamin Northrop, John 
W. Willey, a president judge, Joseph Hayward, Thomas M. Kelley, Quin- 
tus F Atkins, and Samuel Starkweather. The three residents of Wil¬ 
loughby are included as that territory was then a part of Cuyahoga County, 
and the court held in Cleveland. 

These were appointed by the Legislature. The first ten elected judges 
were Horace Foote, Thomas Bolton, Jesse P. Bishop, James M. Coffinbury, 
Samuel B. Prentiss, Robert F. Paine, Darius Cadwell, Gershom M. Barber, 
James M. Jones, and E. T. Hamilton. If any doubt had arisen in the 
minds of those who framed the Constitution of 1851 as to the wisdom 
ot an elective judiciary, and if all the counties of the state had been 
as fortunate in their selection as Cuyahoga, at the start, that doubt must 
have been removed. Although “elected” judges, dependent upon the 
votes of then constituency for continuance in office, we know that all of 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


443 


them would measure up to the requirements of Plato, in that they rendered 
judgments with strict regard to law. Judge Prentiss in his day, Tudze 
Hamilton in his, by their consideration for the rights of all who came 
before them, by their quiet dignity, by their patience and devotion to 
duty, by their kindness, and with their classic features, reflecting always 
the qualities that go to make up an ideal judge, were easily the deans of 
the bench in their time. Judge Prentiss came from a family of lawyers 
His father was judge of the Supreme Court of Vermont, in which state 
Samuel B. was born. The father also served as United States senator and 
then served as United States judge. Samuel B. Prentiss came to Cleve¬ 
land in 1840 and practiced twenty-seven years as a lawyer and served 
fifteen years on the Common Pleas bench. Judge Hamilton was also 
a descendant of a New England family, but was born in this county. He 
served as a soldier in the Civil war, began his political career as a member 
of the city council, and was elected Common Pleas judge. His practice 
as a lawyer had not brought him into much prominence and it was only 
after service upon the bench that his eminent fitness for the position 
was demonstrated, and he was repeatedly reelected. 

Thomas Bolton as a lawyer was known as one of learning, eloquence, 
and indomitable perseverance, and he struck sledge hammer blows. His 
specialty was running down dishonest debtors. Honest himself, he hated 
dishonesty in others. Horace Foote was a born lawyer. His whole 
heart was in the profession and as a judge he delighted in studying out 
the intricate problems that came to him. He was a fine judge. James 
M. Coffinbury, born in 1818 at Mansfield, Ohio, came to Cleveland in 
1855. He was a member of the firm of Otis, Coffinbury and Nyman. 
He had only been in Cleveland six years when he was elected Common 
Pleas judge, and his service upon the bench was of a high order. James 
M. Jones was born in England but came to this country while a young 
child. He was a diligent student and an able jurist. He did not possess 
all the qualities that go to make up an ideal judge, lacking the quality 

of patience to some extent, but no one ever questioned his fairness or 

ability. Robert F. Paine came of ancestry that extended back to Robert 
Treat Paine, who signed the Declaration of Independence. Born in Con¬ 
necticut he found himself a boy in the wilds of Portage County, Ohio, in 
1812, and his parents too poor to send him to school. He read law while 
a clerk at a cross roads store. In 1848 he was elected to the state senate, 
and he made his journey to the capital on horseback. Coming to Cleveland 
he engaged in the practice of law and was elected Common Pleas judge, 
retiring in 1874. He died in 1888. He was a typical pioneer. As a 
judge he cared little for personal appearance, often, and usually appearing 
in court minus a collar and tie, content to let his decisions and conduct 

of a trial maintain the dignity of the court. At one trial he made a 

ruling refusing to recognize “emotional insanity” as an element in a 
murder case. This decision was widely published and the judge received 
congratulations from all over the country, including one from James 
A. Garfield. The fact that Darius Caldwell studied law with Wade and 
Ranney is a sufficient guarantee that he was qualified to be classed with 
the judges we have named. He was born in Ashtabula County, came to 
Cleveland and was elected to the Common Pleas bench. Gershom M. 
Barber was an educator and a lawyer. He was born in New York but 
came west and while a young man was principal of Baldwin Institute 
at Berea. After serving in the Union Army in the Civil war he practiced 
law, was appointed judge of the Superior Court and elected judge of 
the Common Pleas. Of Jesse P. Bishop we have spoken earlier in this 
chapter. 


444 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


The first sitting of the Court of Common Pleas was held in June, 
1810, when Cleveland had a population of only fifty-seven persons. It 
was an imposing tribunal, the judges, Nathan Perry, Sr., Augustus Gil¬ 
bert, and Timothy Deane, sitting together on the trial. The suit was 
for the recovery of seventy dollars, being the value of 1,100 whitefish 
which the defendant had “found” and appropriated to his own use, but 
which the plaintiff claimed belonged to himself. Alfred Kelley was 
attorney for the defendant. The first jury trial was similar, being a fish 
case. In this case the plaintiff sued for the recovery of money he had 
paid for eight barrels of whitefish which proved to be damaged. History 
has preserved the names of this first jury. They were James Root, Robert 
Carr, Luther Dille, William Austin, Mason Clark, Christopher Gunn, James 
Jackson, Dyer Shuman, Simon Smith, Daniel Kellogg, James Warden, and 
John Brooks. 

These cases are mentioned merely as being the first, and not from any 
other importance attached to them, but the courts of justice are open to 
all and in these later days similar cases are heard and decided. In 
the ’80s a case was heard before Judge Heisley that involved the price 
of a load of cornstalks. It came on appeal from a justice court. Several 
trials had been held and when finally decided the witness fees amounted 
to some $1,500. The plaintiff probably fought along the lines of the 
boy who appeared bloody and muddy and with blackened eyes, and when 
asked what he had been fighting about said, the other boy had said his 
sister was not such a girl as she ought to be. “But,” said a bystander, 
“is your sister that kind of a girl?” “Oh,” said the boy, “I haven’t 
any sister; it was the principle of the thing I was fighting for.” 

It will be interesting to speak in brief of more of those who have graced 
the bench and bar of Cleveland. Not all have been a credit, it is true, 
but the percentage of those whom we would not place in the honor list 
is small, notwithstanding the popular flings of the stage comedian. We 
quote: “To say that the legal profession is not honest because by chance 
there may be found in it unworthy men, who for pieces of silver will 
make haste to betray their oath-bound trusts, would be a libel upon the 
highest of professions and the best of men. We might as well say 
evil things of the great apostles of Christianity because there was found 
among them a single Judas to betray not only his profession but the confi¬ 
dence and life on earth of the living God. But Judas had sense enough 
to hang himself while the evil lawyer may live to continue to deceive.” 

Judge Samuel Cowles was a graduate of Williams College and was 
admitted to the bar at Hartford, Connecticut, came to Cleveland in 1820, 
was a partner of Alfred Kelley, and was later judge. It was said of 
Moses Kelley of the firm of Bolton and Kelley that next to Hiram 
Willson he was the ablest office lawyer among the early practitioners. 
Samuel Starkweather was a man of great learning. He had a wonderful 
memory and could quote book and page. As counselor and judge he 
held a high place. John W. Willey was an exceedingly well-read lawyer 
and a pleasing and eloquent advocate. The oratory of Franklyn T. Backus 
was of the type of Webster, massive and profound. Bushnell White 
was a fluent debater. His oratory was of the Henry Clay and Patrick 
Henry type. Hiram V. Willson won hearts by his uniform kindness and 
courtesy. He was noted for his clear and impartial judgment. Joseph 
Adams was considered the best read lawyer and finest pleader at the 
bar. He had a large criminal practice. His great success lay in part 
in the careful preparation of his cases for trial. Like Judge Hamilton 
and others we could name his chief outdoor sport was hunting. Charles 
Stetson obtained a great reputation as a special pleader. His pleadings 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


445 


were iron clad against all demurrers. Daniel Parish practiced in all the 
courts from the justice courts up. Regardless of the importance of the 
case he insisted upon and did consume much time. Ellery G. Williams 
was full of fire and energy. Outside of his law practice, land and 
stock speculations and business involving risk were adapted to his temper 
George W. Lynde, without any especial individuality, had a large and 
lucrative practice. Seth T. Hurd was impressed with the idea that the 
mantle of Demosthenes had fallen upon his shoulders, and the sound of 
his voice could be heard outside of the court room, but his vanity was 
forgotten in his great good nature. Samuel E. Adams delighted in the 
complications and intricacies of the law. He was much in demand as 
the orator of the day.” As prosecuting attorney he was a terror to 
evildoers. The mind of James K. Hitchcock ran to speculative ventures 
rather than to the fiery ordeals of the legal forum. He left Cleveland 
at an early day. 

The legal fraternity is and has been so much a part of the adminis¬ 
tration of public afifairs, so much a part of Cleveland’s upbuilding, so 
much in the limelight, that we are constrained to continue the mention 
of some of its luminaries. John Erwin was genial to a fault. He was 
a model of the true gentleman. James A. Briggs was versatile to a 
marked degree. He was the orator, scholar, and lawyer combined, and 
versatile in each attribute. Whether delivering a Fourth of July oration, 
a lecture before an ecclesiastical body on Christian duty, a political stump 
speech, or a plea in court, he was always interesting. John Barr was 
unobtrusive, quiet in deportment with an even temper which was never 
put out of balance. He was a pattern of harmony in human relationship. 
We have mentioned Reuben Wood, who was dignified in deportment 
but approachable to his humblest friends. H. H. Dodge and Jabez W. 
Fitch did not devote their principal energies to the law. Both had well 
balanced minds, the one giving time to general business and the other 
to political and military life. 

At least three of the members of the Cleveland bar, past and present, 
studied medicine before taking up the law. J. E. Ingersoll graduated at 
the Cleveland Medical College and was admitted to the bar; in 1855 he 
served as a physician in the Civil war and after its close practiced law 
and later served on the Common Pleas bench. As a lawyer he was par¬ 
ticularly successful in personal injury cases involving a knowledge of 
medical practice. He was a natural advocate and it is related of him 
that in the trial of a case where the attorney for one of the parties was 
not very capable and was neglecting to insist upon applying the rules of 
evidence as he should, the judge when a question was asked by the 
opposing counsel said: “I object.” This was quite unusual, but Judge 
Ingersoll, who was the judge in the trial, was so disturbed by the ineffi¬ 
ciency of counsel that he forgot himself. John J. Elwell graduated from 
the Cleveland Medical College and later was admitted to the bar. This 
was in 1854. After the war, in which he was promoted to a brigadier- 
general, he practiced law in Cleveland. Of a later date, Andrew Squire, 
who was born in Mantua, Portage County, Ohio, and who graduated at 
Hiram College in 1872, began his postgraduate studies at the Cleveland 
Medical College, but soon left the study of medicine for that of the 
law. He was admitted to the bar and entered the law office of Cadwell 
and Marvin. When Judge Cadwell was elected to the bench, Mr. Squire 
was taken into the partnership. Later Alphonso Hart, who had served 
as lieutenant governor, was taken into the firm and it read Marvin, Hart 
and Squire. Afterwards his firm was Estep and Squire, then Estep, 


446 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Dickey and Squire, and for many years and at the present time it reads 
Squire, Sanders and Dempsey. 

This firm with Mr. Squire at its head for many years has been 
one of the leading, if . not the leading law firm of the city. Mr. Squire 
has not been known as an orator, he has never aspired to public office, 
has never cared for the limelight of publicity, but in length of service at 
the bar, in the esteem in which he is held by the community, few men 
of the legal fraternity of Cleveland have surpassed him. On the eighth 
of January, 1924, a banquet was held at the Hotel Winton in honor 
of his fiftieth anniversary as a member of the Cleveland bar. Practically 
every leading member of the bar was present and the occasion was one 
to record in history. This dinner was under the auspices of the Cleveland 
Bar Association. Judge John J. Sullivan, of the Court of Appeals, 
president of the association, presided, and Homer H. McKeehan of the 
bar association presented Mr. Squire with an appropriate souvenir of 
the occasion. Judge William B. Sanders, of this firm, was born in 
Cleveland and graduated at Illinois College, Jacksonville, in 1873. Two 
years later he received a degree from the Albany Law School in New 
York State and was admitted to the bar. In the fall of that year he 
came to Cleveland and entered into the practice of law with Stevenson 
Burke. This partnership became Burke, Ingersoll and Saunders. He 
was appointed judge of the Common Pleas Court by Governor Foraker 
in 1888, and at the expiration of his appointive term he was nominated 
without opposition and elected to the same position. This he held until 
1890, when he resigned to enter the present firm of Squire, Sanders and 
Dempsey. Probably no member of the bench of Cuyahoga County was 
ever his equal in the dispatch of business in the equity room of the 
courts. His comprehension of the issues were drawn so quickly from 
a seeming glance at the pleadings that he disposed of a heavy motion 
and demurrer docket with a rapidity that was most unusual, and his 
decisions were rarely reversed. Ever courteous and obliging, with a 
quiet dignity which seemed to pervade the court room, he was greatly 
missed and much regret was felt when he left the bench to enter the 
more remunerative field of his law practice. The late James Dempsey, 
whose name is still retained in the firm nomenclature, was an able 
second to the two whose names preceded his in the business title of the 
firm. There are many other able lawyers connected with this great 
firm, the most prominent being W. C. Boyle, whose years as a trial 
lawyer have taken him into the court room representing many of the 
largest and most powerful business firms in the city and country. 

John G. White, like Judge Sanders, is a native of Cleveland and a rep¬ 
resentative of the best in the legal fraternity. He graduated at Western 
Reserve College, studied law and was admitted to the bar. Although 
advanced in years, he is still in active practice, serving at the same time 
as president of the board of the Cleveland Public Library. He presided 
at the laying of the cornerstone of the new library building, now in process 
of construction, when Lloyd George, former prime minister of England, 
delivered an address. Mr. White has never served on the bench, but for 
many years he was the unofficial adviser of the younger and newer acces¬ 
sions to the same, being often consulted about knotty problems. His first 
law firm was Mix, Noble & White. When the senior member of the firm, 
Conway W. Noble, was elected common pleas judge, the name dropped 
to Mix & White. Mr. White is now practicing alone. Another of the 
early practicing lawyers now living is William S. Kerruish, who was born 
m Warrensville in this county in 1831, being now ninety-three years old. 
His early education was acquired at the Twinsburgh Institute, but he grad- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


447 


uated at \ ale (College in 1855. He studied law in the office of Ranney, 
Backus & Noble, in Cleveland, and was admitted to the bar in 1859. He 
has had unusual success in winning cases and was especially successful in 
jury trials. He was sometimes dubbed the thirteenth juryman, for he 
would argue a case as if to convince himself, and when that was done he 
usually brought the other twelve over. He still calls at the law office of 
Kerruish & Kerruish, which is in charge of his son Sheldon, also a prac¬ 
ticing lawyer for many years. 

We must mention Moses R. Dickey, who was admitted to the bar 
between service in two wars. He was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1827, 
was a soldier in the Mexican war, was admitted to the bar in 1856, and 
when the Civil war broke out he went into the service as a captain and came 
out as a colonel. He was elected common pleas judge of Richland County 
and his title of colonel was lost in that of judge. He came to Cleveland 
in 1882 and became a member of the firm of Estep, Dickey, Carr & Goff. 
E. J. Estep, W. F. Carr and Fred Goff of this firm were able lawyers, of 
which no member is now living. Mr. Goff, who recently died, had been 
for many years prominent in financial circles and of him we will speak 
later. Another firm now living only in remembrance was that of Foran 
& Dawley. Martin A. Foran was born in Pennsylvania and spent the first 
sixteen years of his life on the farm. He was a soldier in the Civil war, 
came to Cleveland after being admitted to the bar and engaged in the prac¬ 
tice of law. He was three times elected to Congress, defeating in turn, 
S. T. Everett, C. C. Burnett and Amos Townsend. Elected to the com¬ 
mon pleas bench, he made an enviable record and was serving as judge at 
the time of his death. Jay P. Dawley was born in Ravenna, Ohio, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1872. Coming to Cleveland, he formed a partnership 
with S. M. Stone, who a few years after removed to New York, when the 
firm of Foran & Dawley was formed. Like Judge Foran, his partner, 
Mr. Dawley was a Union soldier. As a lawyer he was able and quick on 
the trigger. He was resourceful in breaking the force of evidence dam¬ 
aging to his client’s case. He was engaged in the trial of many important 
cases, civil and criminal. Into the office of this firm came a young and 
unknown lawyer, who was destined to make his mark and become a com¬ 
manding figure in the community, as a lawyer, orator, magistrate and states¬ 
man, Newton D. Baker. 

Virgil P. Kline, born in 1844, a graduate of Williams College, after 
being admitted to the bar, formed a partnership with Albert T. Slade. In 
1876 it was Kline & Henderson, Mr. Slade serving as prosecuting attorney 
of the county. For a long period one of the leading firms of the city was 
Kline, Carr, Tolies & Goff. One member is now living, Mr. Tolies, at the 
head of the firm of Tolies, Hogsett, Ginn & Morley. Mr. Kline was a pol¬ 
ished orator, a good lawyer, and a masterly advocate. In the early days of 
his practice he would often appear before the Justice Court out in the town¬ 
ships, try a small case as a sort of recreation, and the next day be repre¬ 
senting a large corporation in the courts of Cleveland. He was much in 
demand on the lecture platform, never held a judicial position but was nom¬ 
inated by his party or judge of the Supreme Court on the unlucky year. 
Amos Denison was born in Parma and admitted to the bar in 1872. 
Wyman, Hamilton & Denison was succeeded by Tyler & Denison when 
Judge Hamilton took office. Sherwood & Denison existed as a firm until 

Judge Sherwood took his place on the bench. 

F. J. Dickman was born in Virginia and admitted to the bar in 1857. 
He came to Cleveland in 1858. He was appointed judge of the Supreme 
Court by Governor Foraker and on the expiration of his appointive term 
was elected. He immediately after coming to Cleveland took high place 


448 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


in the profession, and ranks as one of the strong members of the early bar 
of the city. W. W. Boynton, another member of the Cleveland bar, who 
served as a judge of the Supreme Court, deserves to stand beside Judge 
Dickman in estimating the strength of the Cleveland lawyers of that day. 
John C. Hale, a partner of Judge Boynton, was born in New Hampshire 
and graduated at Dartmouth, and came to Cleveland in 1857. He taught 
in the Cleveland schools for three years, studied law with Judge Prentiss, 
removed to Lorain County and was there elected judge of the Common 
Pleas Court. Coming again to Cleveland, the firm of Boynton & Hale 
was formed and broken when Judge Hale was elected to the Circuit Court 
bench. James D. Cleveland, born in New York, was admitted to practice 
in 1843. While associate editor of the Cleveland Plain Dealer he was 
elected judge of the Police Court. Henry C. Ranney, born in Portage 
County, Ohio, a nephew of Judge R. P. Ranney, of the firm of Ranney 
& McKinney, A. J. Marvin, born on the Reserve, who came to Cleveland 
in 1861 and formed the firm of Marvin & Cook, are others who go to 
make up the. interesting list of the early bar. 

There was E. Sowers from Huron County, who served as a colonel in 
the Civil war, and whose practice was largely in insurance matters and real 
estate; L. E. Holden, who practiced law for a while, but became chief 
owner and president of the Cleveland Plain Dealer; Theodore E. Burton, 
whose brilliant career as a lawyer was interrupted by his entrance into the 
field of statesmanship; Gen. M. D. Leggett, who came out of the army 
as a major general, bearing the highest rank of any Cleveland soldier, and 
whose practice was confined largely to patent law; Edward S. Meyer, also a 
general in the Civil war, who served as United States District Attorney, 
appointed by President Garfield, and as director of law of the city, and 
G. E. Herrick, who came to Cleveland in 1852, and later was engaged in 
practice with Col. J. F. Herrick, a gallant soldier and attractive and con¬ 
vincing orator. 

James H. Rhodes was a member of the Cleveland bar. He roomed with 
Garfield while teaching at Hiram, and was at one time the editor of the 
Cleveland Leader. Seneca O. Griswold, a New Englander, was a leading 
light in the legal profession. He obtained the soubriquet of “Old Sog” 
from the initials of his name. He was profound and serious and of stocky 
build. He was born in Winsor, Connecticut, in 1823, came West and was 
educated at Oberlin College. He studied law in the office of Bolton & 
Kelley, was admitted to the bar in 1847, formed a partnership with John 
C. Grannis the next year, and afterwards entered the firm of Bolton & 
Kelley. When Bolton was elected to the bench in 1856 the firm became 
Kelley & Griswold. Mr. Griswold was elected to the Legislature in 1861, 
and as judge of the Superior Court in 1873. He was one of the founders 
of the Cleveland Law Library. He delivered an address at the centennial 
celebration in Cleveland July 4, 1876, which was highly praised. In the 
last years of his life he went back to Winsor, his birthplace, and served 
as a magistrate there. We can not refrain from giving an incident of the 
couit room in which he played a part. Judge Hamilton was rendering a 
decision in court room “one” and Judge Griswold, an attorney in the case, 
with chair tilted before the bench, was absorbed in the reading. Judge 
Hamilton found for him on one issue, on another, and then on another, 
but finally on an issue upon which the case practically hinged found against 
him. At this sudden turn of affairs, Judge Griswold, with an exclamation 
not recorded, fell over backward in his chair and it was some time before 
he recovered from the jar and was himself again. This was referred to 
about the courthouse as a knockout decision. A referee could easily have 
counted ten before the judge got on his feet. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


449 


John Crowell was born in Connecticut in 1801, came to Jefferson, Ohio, 
where he attended school, studied law in Warren and was admitted to the 
bar in 1827, practiced law there, elected to the State Senate in 1840, elected 
to Congress in 1846, reelected, came to Cleveland in 1852, and resumed the 
practice of law. His father was a lawyer before him and he inherited a 
natural interest in the principles of his great profession. He was editor of 
the Western Law Monthly and president of the Ohio State and Union 
Law colleges. D. W. Cross, born in New York State in 1814, was appointed 
deputy collector of customs at Cleveland. He was admitted to the bar and 
formed a partnership with Robert Parks in 1844. Like many lawyers of 
that day he soon became a part of the business life of the growing city. 
He associated himself with H. B. Payne in the coal business under the 
firm name of Cross, Payne & Company. Pioneer life appealed to him, as 
he was a great nimrod. We have referred to Judge James M. Coffinbury, 
who was born in Mansfield, Ohio, in 1818, whose father, admitted to the 
bar in 1813, practiced law in several counties, was a circuit lawyer, making 
his trips on horseback, Andrew Coffinbury. In his many long and solitary 
trips through the woods he composed poetry, which fact is retained but 
probably little of the verses. James M. was admitted to the bar in 1841, 
was editor of the Findlay Herald, came to Cleveland in 1855 and was 
elected judge of the Common Pleas Court and served five years, beginning 
in 1861. His charge to the jury in the case of Dr. John W. Hughes for 
the murder of Tamzen Parsons in Bedford, which trial occurred in 1865, 
was commended by the press as the ablest ever delivered in Cleveland. 

A. T. Brewer, whose firm of Brewer, Cook & McGowan, represented 
at one time nearly all of the insurance companies of the city; E. J. Estep, of 
Estep, Dickey & Squire; Frank Wing, who served as judge of the United 
States Court; William Robison, born in New York, who was prosecuting 
attorney in 1873; Frank H. Kelley, who was president of the city council, 
and was police judge in 1887; James Lawrence, graduate of Kenyon Col¬ 
lege, who was president of the board of aldermen of the city, and later a 
very able judge of the Court of Common Pleas; L. A. Russell, who studied 
law with Robert F. Paine, and formed a partnership with William L. 
Rice, Russell, the brilliant, eccentric genius; George A. Groot, who aspired 
to the judgeship but was not successful; E. H. Eggleston, who came from 
Portage County; W. C. McFarland, who came in 1862, and was a member 
of the General Assembly of Ohio; Charles D. Everett, of the firm of 
Everett, Dellenbaugh & Weed, who was president of the city council; 
J. H. Webster, still giving some of his time to the law; August Zehring and 
Marco B. Gary, both of whom held Government positions in the city; 
E. IC. Wilcox; Joseph T. Logue, who was judge of the Police Court and 
then of the Common Pleas; E. J. Blandin, who was judge of the Common 
Pleas, and many others that we could name, as the list seems almost inex¬ 
haustible, have added luster to the early bar of the city and called forth 
this tribute penned some years ago: 

“The Cleveland bar is not surpassed by that of any other city of like 
population, for its many instances of profound legal learning and admirable 
forensic ability, supplemented and graced by those accomplishments which 
come of the learning of the schools, of history, and literature, and keep pace 
with the progress of the world in the researches and developments of the 
sciences, and the best philosophical thought of modern times. The bench is 
inseparable from the bar and must be considered as such and included 

The Constitution of the United States provides for a Supreme Court 
and such other inferior courts as Congress, from time to time may ordain 
and establish. The Ordinance of 1787 for the government of the North- 


450 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


west Territory (the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio 
River) provided for a court of three judges, who should have common law 
jurisdiction and reside in the territory. The Constitution of Ohio, ratified 
in 1802 and operative in 1803 when the state was admitted into the Union, 
provided for a Supreme Court of three members, and Common Pleas courts 
as follows: The state was divided into three circuits with a “president” 
judge for each and associate judges in the various counties, these to be 
elected by the Legislature. It also provided for a competent number of 



Sherlock J. Andrews 


justices of the peace to be elected in each township. No authority was given 
for the establishment of other courts. In the Constitution of 1851, oper¬ 
ative in 1852, the judges were made elective by the people and the Legis¬ 
lature was given authority to establish such other courts, inferior to the 
Supreme Court, “as the General Assembly may from time to time estab¬ 
lish. 

The first Constitution of the state made no provision for the establishing 
of courts by the Legislature. In the legislative session of 1837-38 the 
Superior Court was established in Cincinnati, and in the session of 1847-48 
the Superior Court of Cleveland with Sherlock J. Andrews as its judge, 
there was also a Commercial Court established in Cincinnati. Although 
local courts they were of doubtful constitutionality. 

Of Sherlock J. Andrews, who was judge of the first Superior Court, 
much may be added. He was the acknowledged head of the bar in his day. 


451 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


He had a marvelous, magnetic influence over juries. He was given to share 
emotional appeals coupled with classic imagery. He made tefling chmaxes 
in enforcing upon the minds of his auditors the strong points of his case 
In this he had no superior in Ohio. His deportment was gentlemanly and 
courteous, especially to the younger members of the bar. He was 7 true 
to his clients but never attempted to win a doubtful case at the expense of 
his honor. He boiled oyer with fun and sparkling wit. This picture of him 
we find in the old annals. 


Under the new constitution, which provided for Circuit courts as inter¬ 
mediate between the Common Pleas and Supreme courts, none were estab- 
lished in Cleveland until 1884. This superseded the District Court. Charles 
C. Paidwin as we have said was the first Cleveland member. He was 
followed by H. J. Caldwell. As the city increased in population Cleveland 
was given a larger representation on this bench, Judge John C. Hale, 
Judge U L. Marvin, of Summit County, afterwards a member of the 
Cleveland bar, Judge Louis H. Winch, author of a text-book on court 
journal entries, now in active practice, Judge Thomas S. Dunlap, now in 
active practice, Judge A. G. Carpenter, who died in office, and Judge Alvin 
F. Ingersoll, who also died while judge of that court, were members of the 
Cleveland bar. Now called the Court of Appeals, the judges are Willis 
Vickery Dean of the Cleveland Law School, who was promoted from the 
Common Pleas bench, John J. Sullivan, appointed by Gov. Harry L. Davis, 
and later elected without opposition, and Emanuel Levine, appointed by 
Governor Davis, compose the bench of this court. All of these judges are 
men of ability and integrity and reflect much credit on the bench and bar 
of Cleveland. We have neglected to mention two of the judges of this 
court, who served with distinguished ability and resigned to resume the 
more lucrative practice at the bar, Judge Walter D. Meals and Judge Fred¬ 
erick A. Henry. Judge Albert Lawrence, who served by appointment on 
the Court of Appeals bench and who died quite recently, was a lawyer of 
prominence and a judge of ability. 

The first judge of the United States District Court was Hiram V. 
Willson, who was appointed by President Pierce. The most celebrated 
case that came before him was the Oberlin-Wellington rescue case. Judge 
Willson died in 1866 and was succeeded by Judge Charles Sherman, a 
brother of Senator John Sherman and General William Tecumseh Sher¬ 
man. Judge Sherman after his appointment made Cleveland his home. 
Agustus J. Ricks served for some time and was succeeded by Judge Robert 
W. Tayler, who was not a member of the Cleveland bar but became identi¬ 
fied with Cleveland and its history by a court decree known as the Tayler 
grant which provided a plan for the operation of the Cleveland Street 
Railways by the the city and the company. The provisions of this plan have 
taken the street railways out of politics and under its benign operation we 
have the best service in the country. At his death the following tribute was 
published in the Cleveland Press: 


He lived respected and he died revered 
Unselfish and devoted to the close, 

All honors were to him but Duty’s call, 
And, walking in her knarled path, he rose. 

A citizen, who sought the highest good, 

A jurist calm, dispassionate and strong, 
He toiled with keenest wit to find the right, 
And still as patiently to find the wrong. 


Vol. 1—15 


452 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Unswayed by passion and unspoiled by praise, 

He lent a ready ear and judgment sound 
Urged on by this with every task imposed: 

“If wisely sought the truth will here be found.” 

Too soon the summons came and he is gone 
And eyes are moist, that seldom shed a tear, 

And one, who loved him more than he e’er knew, 

Would lay a wreath of tribute on his bier. 

Francis J. Wing served on the Federal bench of Cleveland being ap¬ 
pointed by President McKinley. He was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, 
in 1850, was admitted to the bar in 1874 and then came to Cleveland. He 
first practiced alone, then the firm of Coon and Wing was formed, and 
later Wing and Wing, the partnership being with a brother. Judge Wing 
was a bright and capable lawyer. In the early eighties he and Andrew 
Squire in a bar of about seven hundred were looked upon as the two most 
promising of the younger members. After serving for some time on the 
Federal bench Judge Wing resigned to again take up the practice of law. 
Judge William L. Day, who graced the bench for some years, is a son of 
Judge William R. Day, who was a prominent figure in the state and nation, 
was judge of the Common Pleas Court, Secretary of State, and Associate 
Justice of the United States Supreme Court, which position he resigned 
shortly before his death. Judge William L. Day, can trace his ancestry 
through generations of eminent lawyers. His maternal great, great, grand¬ 
father, Zepheniah Swift was the author of “Swift’s Digest” and Chief 
Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut. His maternal great grand¬ 
father was Rufus P. Spalding, a Justice of the Supreme Court, and his 
grandfather, Luther Day, was for two terms a Justice of the Supreme 
Court. Judge William L. Day resigned to take up the practice of law and 
the partnership with a brother, Luther Day, was formed. Both of these 
members are brilliant and successful lawyers. The firm, so illustrious in 
lineage and successful in the law, is written Day and Day. 

Judge John H. Clarke was one of the ablest men who have sat on the 
Federal bench at Cleveland. A practicing lawyer who had grown up in 
the law and learned its lessons by practical experience, who had appeared 
before many judges, who had represented clients in cases involving great 
sums and great issues, who had the judicial temperament and the integrity 
and determination, whose hair was turning gray, was appointed by the 
President of the United States to a position he was qualified to fill. Having 
served on this bench for a time and made manifest his qualifications he was 
appointed by President Wilson a Judge of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. This position he held for some years and retired to private 
life to have a little play spell in the twilight of his years. A fine banquet 
was tendered him by the Cleveland Bar Association on his retirement and 
his address on that occasion was that of a profound thinker, a statesman, 
and a lawyer. 

The present judge of the United States District Court in Cleveland is 
D. C. Westenhaver, who had practiced law in Cleveland for some years, 
who had served on the board of education, and been active in public affairs 
before his appointment. It would be idle to do more than predict for him 
a place in history with the best, for his record is in the making, but he is 
able, fearless, and tireless. In the increased business that comes before the 
court by reason of the vast increase in population and wealth, and especially 
by reason of the great number of violations of the prohibition laws coming 
before his court he has proven himself a marvel of judicial efficiency. In 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


453 


closing this brief history of this court mention should be made of the present 
Umtecl States Attorney, A. E. Bernsteen, who, although but a short time 
in omee, has proved himself capable beyond the expectations of his 
friends, who had placed the mark high. It was while Judge John T 
Sullivan was United States District Attorney that the trial of Cassie 
Chadwick occurred. This was one of the most famous cases ever tried in 
that court, perhaps in any court, and it received wide publicity. In the 
magnitude of her operations the defendant in this case was the equal if 
not the superior of the famous criminal in France, Madam Therese 
Humbert, and their criminal careers were somewhat alike, both posed as 
women of great wealth, both were able by extreme snobbery to triumph 
over the impersonal laws of business, both were consummate actresses and 
both met the same sad end. 

This famous case began in 1905 when Cassie Chadwick was indicted 
by the Federal grand jury. The trial judge was Robert W. Tayler, the 
prosecutor, as we have said, John J. Sullivan, and the United States 
marshal, when the arrest was made, Frank M. Chandler. The attorneys 
for the defendant were Jay P. Dawley, Francis J. Wing, and S. Q. Ker- 
ruish, and the jury, who brought in the verdict of guilty, were F. P. Ander¬ 
son, James Carr, Butler Crane, Martin Crow, H. A. Haverstadt, O. F. 
Haymaker, L. E. Humphrey, Elwood Miller, Capt. W. McKray, Willis 
McGuire, Thomas McMahon and William Stover. The defendant was 
sentenced March 27, 1905 by Judge Tayler to ten years in the penitentiary. 
There was some delay by reason of writs of error to the United States 
Circuit Court. The notorious prisoner was finally taken away in accordance 
with the sentence and died after three years of prison life. 

Cassie Chadwick was born in 1857 in Eastwood, Canada, which little 
town is about half way between Toronto and Detroit. Her name was 
Elizabeth Bigley and she was the wayward child oj a family of six girls 
and two boys. Her father was a section boss on the Great Western Rail¬ 
way, Daniel Bigley, and the family were in very moderate circumstances. 
Betsey Bigley was moody at times, and, although quite early in life handi¬ 
capped by deafness, began her conquest of men. She was not handsome 
but seemed to exercise remarkable power over men in connection with 
crooked transactions. She had apparently employed all the methods of 
the crook quite early but with added synthesis. Having obtained money 
probably by theft, she in 1878, when twenty-one years of age, gave out that 
she was an heiress. She brought a letter which she read to her parents, 
neither of whom could read, to the effect that an uncle in England had left 
her a fortune of $18,000, and the letter was supposedly from his English 
lawyers. She had some visiting cards printed announcing that she was 
“Miss Lizzie Bigley, heiress to $18,000.” She was arrested for forgery 
and tried in 1879 but declared insane and sent to an asylum. Later she 
was released and given into the care of her mother. 

She came to Cleveland to visit a married sister and stopped at her 
home on the west side. In the absence of the sister she mortgaged all 
the furniture under an assumed name. This worked, and so she went to 
various rooming houses in the city getting money in the same way, using 
different names at each place. On October 22, 1882 she married Dr. Wallace 
S. Springsteen, who took her for a woman of wealth. 1 he day after the 
wedding the bride’s trousseau and jewels were seized and Dr. Springsteen 
discovered he had been duped. He got a divorce. After this she wrote 
to various friends, sometimes adopting the name of Mrs. Scott, and also 
the name of Mrs. Wallace. She appeared in various cities under the name 
of “La Rose,” practicing as a clairvoyant for a time, came to Cleveland 
and kept some sort of a dubious resort but which was frequented by many 


454 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


of the wealthy, society men of the city. Here she learned of the double 
lives of some and their weakness but gave her attention especially to men 
of wealth. In 1890 she was in Toledo and became known as Madame 
Lydia De Vere, fortune teller, clairvoyant, mesmerist, and medium. Her 
place here drew men of prominence, bankers and physicians being her 
especially favored customers. She had various methods of getting in the 
wealth which she coveted. A policeman gave her $250 in gold to sleep on 
that she might tell him something about the girl he wanted to marry. She 
told him some strange things but he did not get back his money. Madame 
De Vere had been living in Toledo some three years when she was arrested, 
tried and convicted for a multitude of swindling operations into which a 
clerk in the express office was drawn. She was sentenced to nine years in 
the penitentiary, but her accomplice was acquitted. He died soon after. In 
1893 Madame De Vere was paroled from the penitentiary by Gov. William 
McKinley, the matron of that institution testifying to her character as a 
model prisoner. She posed in the prison as a clairvoyant and prophetess. 
It was related that she told the warden that he would lose $5,000 in a 
certain business deal, and he did, that he would die of cancer, and he did. 

After being released from prison Betsy Bigley went back to her home 
town in Canada, giving her name as Mrs. C. L. Hoover of Cleveland. She 
stated that she had decided to settle down in the old town. This was merely 
mu hod for she came to Cleveland and in i896 was recognized as Madame 
De Vere by the officer, who had her in custody in Toledo, as she drove up to 
the Hollenden Hotel in magnificent style. She admitted the identity to him 
and thanked him for his courtesy while she was his prisoner. Two years 
after this she was married to Dr. Leroy S. Chadwick, a widower and mem¬ 
ber of a prominent Cleveland family. He had an interesting daughter and 
his mother was living. The Chadwick marriage occurred in 1896. The doctor 
had a fine residence at Euclid and East Eighty-second Street. The woman 
with many aliases he met as Mrs. Hoover, just where is not recorded. It 
was while the wife of Doctor Chadwick that her largest financial efforts 
were put forth, and they were all fruitful. She was constantly securing new 
additions to her apparently mammoth fortune. We quote: “She sailed 
the billows of fortune with swelling canvas. She played the role of society 
queen and played it with the grace of a Modjeska.” The truth is this 
remarkable woman could don or doff the purple with the ease of a lightning 
change artist. Her home was a plain structure viewed from the outside, 
but within the most gorgeous luxury reigned. She ordered everything that 
struck her fancy, and never asked the price. She bought jewels as she 
bought market truck. If a tray of pearls or diamonds pleased her she 
bought. She had a chest containing eight trays of diamonds and pearls. 
They were pledged to a New York banker at one time, and were inventoried 
at $98,000. She played with diamonds as a child would with beach-sand 
letting them trickle through her fingers. She had a rope of pearls valued at 
$40,000. 

Cleveland merchants welcomed her presence in their stores as the silver 
lining to the cloud of dull times. One. of the sights of Cleveland was 
Mrs. Chadwick shopping, tricked out in gorgeous raiment with her liveried 
servants and semi-equipage. One of her orders at a Cleveland piano store 
was for eight grand pianos, to be sent to as many different friends as 
tokens of her regard. Her first act on engaging a maid was to take her 
to the tailor and outfit her with suits and wraps. She made her cook a 
present of a sealskin coat reaching far below the knees. She invited her 
husband to go with her on Christmas Eve, and to a supper afterwards, and 
on their return home, Doctor Chadwick was dumbfounded on entering 
what appeared to be an entirely different house from the one they had left. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


455 


While the Chadwicks were at the theatre furniture men, decorators and 
artisans had been engaged in refitting and refurnishing the house from 
top to bottom. Turning to her husband, Mrs. Chadwick said : “This is your 
Christmas gift.” Then she topped her generosity by giving the doctor a fur 
lined overcoat that cost $1,100. She surrounded herself with gold; 
it was the dominant color in her house. Gold clocks ticked every¬ 
where, and golden figurantes peeped out from golden cabinets. A massive 
piece of ivory carving represented a bull-fight. Carved in the solid block of 
pure ivory by a master hand could be seen the bull in full charge, a matador, 
a toreador, and the great amphitheatre with thousands of spectators. Scat¬ 
tered on the floor were rich rugs from Persia and India, and overlapping 
them were gaudy imitation Smyrnas. On the walls were exquisite works 
of art, and side by side were daubs. 

The music room was not large, and the great pipe organ with its 365 
stops, one for each day in the year, took up all of one side. Its cost was 
$8,000. In a golden cage was a golden bird that sang golden notes when 
a golden spring was touched. Cut glass was piled high as in a store-room. 
One set of tableware was of imported silver studded with rubies. Another 
contained over 900 pieces. The cups alone cost $65 each. The soup-plates 
concealed music boxes that played when the plates were lifted and stopped 
when they were put down. Gilded chairs had the same mechanical oddity. 
When one sat on them they played sweet music. There were cloisonne and 
Genori vases that cost small fortunes. She presented her friends as wed¬ 
ding presents imported French automobiles and touring-cars. Once she 
had the automobile fad herself, selling or giving away her machine at 
every stop of importance and buying a new one. On one occasion Mrs. 
Chadwick induced the parents of twelve young ladies in Cleveland’s smart 
set to permit their daughters to accompany her to Europe. What extrava¬ 
gances were indulged in on that trip were known only to those who accom¬ 
panied her but upon her return home, the chaperon called upon Cleveland’s 
most fashionable jeweler and had framed in gold, solid, twelve exquisite 
miniatures painted on porcelain by a great Parisian artist. One of these 
went to each of the guests of her transatlantic party. 

Her charity was boundless. She was known to purchase enough toys 
to give one or more to every inmate of a Cleveland orphan asylum. She 
picked out worthy families among the needy and sent them presents ands 
food. No beggar was ever turned away from her door. She took a fancy 
to her butcher boy. Driving around to his home one morning she had him 
climb into the carriage. She took him to a tailor, ordered more than a 
dozen suits for him; took him to a haberdashery and fitted him out there, 
went to the jewelers and bought watch and chain, rings and jewels. She 
thought nothing of spending $10,000 in a day’s shopping. Whenever 
she started from Cleveland to New York, she telegraphed ahead for 
a suite at a prominent hotel. She did not always use the suite she had 
ordered but was just as likely to go to some other hotel, but she never 
cancelled the first order and invariably paid the bill for the rooms she had 
not ordered as well as for the others. One winter she took a party of 
friends from Cleveland to New York in a private car to hear Parsifal. 

When they searched the premises after her arrest they found in the 
loft of the barn, covered with dust, with the Custom House seals unbroken, 
an exquisite “Old Master” packed in a case and stored away like junk. 
Crates of other pictures, tumbled into the basement, testified to her reckless 
mode of buying. There was a Steinway piano that had never been unpacked: 
there were vases that had never been disturbed; pictures that were never 
hung; carpets that were never laid; and a hundred boxes.of hats, many of 
them of costly furs to match suits, and all of them bearing the label of a 


456 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


fashionable New York milliner. This eccentricity of splendor and gener¬ 
osity she carried out in all her relations of life. Her servants were numer¬ 
ous and loyal. There were French maids and Swedish maids, and when the 
night gathered around her, they were faithful to the end.” 

“If one had any curiosity in watching the entourage of Fifth Avenue, 
New York, on a certain day in the spring of 1902, he might have seen a 
carriage drive up to the residence of Andrew Carnegie. Looking closer, 
one might have noticed that the occupants were a rather large, handsomely 
gowned woman of distinguished, if showy, appearance, and a well nourished, 
florid-faced man of prosperous and professional air. Shortly before this in 
Cleveland Mrs. Chadwick had called upon her companion, a Cleveland 
lawyer of prominence, and told him that she was a niece of Frederick Mason, 
a life-long associate of Andrew Carnegie, who at his death had bequeathed 
her upwards of seven million dollars in securities. Mason had asked 
Andrew Carnegie to act as her trustee. Under the latter’s skillful man¬ 
agement, the fortune had increased to eleven millions. And now that 
Mr. Carnegie had given up all his own business cares, he wished to be rid 
of this trust. Mrs. Chadwick said that Mr. Carnegie had suggested that 
perhaps a great banking and trust company might be established in Cleve¬ 
land with her fortune to back it, and it was for this purpose that she came 
to consult him. A few weeks later this lawyer was summoned to New 
York for the purpose of arranging a settlement with Mr. Carnegie, whom 
Mrs. Chadwick, meanwhile, in a moment of unguarded confidence, had 
hinted was her natural father. This to the lawyer’s mind accounted for the 
strange story of the trusteeship. As they approached the Carnegie mansion, 
Mrs. Chadwick turned to her Cleveland lawyer and said: ‘It might be well 
for you to remain in the carriage while I sound the coast. Mr. Carnegie 
may resent your presence.’ 

“Mrs. Chadwick entered the mansion. She reappeared in the course of 
twenty minutes or half an hour and exhibited to the lawyer a package which 
she said contained Caledonia Railway bonds of Scotland and two notes 
aggregating ten millions of dollars, signed by Mr. Carnegie, whose signature 
thereto she exhibited with feverish elation. The purpose of the trip being 
achieved the two returned to Cleveland. Though Mrs. Chadwick took pains 
to impress upon her lawyer the necessity of secrecy as to her birth and 
wealth, it was impossible, as she knew, for this to remain inter nos in a city 
of the size of Cleveland. It would find its way, as she knew, through the 
very innermost recesses of the highest social and financial circles and it 
fVould not be likely to become vulgarly public. The standing of the lawyer 
in Cleveland was such as to assure verisimilitude for the story. Had he not 
driven up to the Carnegie mansion on Fifth Avenue with Chadwick and 
had he not seen the notes with Mr. Carnegie’s signature. What had hap¬ 
pened was that Mrs. Chadwick had the forged notes in her possession when 
she drove up Fifth Avenue to the Carnegie mansion. It is certain that she 
did not see Mr. Carnegie.” 

“Iri Reynolds was secretary of the Wade Park Banking Company of 
Cleveland, of which Frank Rockefeller, a brother of John D. Rockefeller, 
was president. He was an old and intimate friend of Doctor Chadwick. 
One day Mrs. Chadwick called him on the telephone to her house. When 
Mr. Reynolds repaired to the Chadwick mansion, he found Doctor and Mrs. 
Chadwick engaged in preparing a package of papers for deposit in the safety- 
deposit vault. In the presence of her husband and of a gold-framed life- 
ike portrait of ‘her dear dead Uncle Mason’ which hung in the parlor, 
Mrs. Chadwick said she wished to entrust to Mr. Reynolds some valuable 
securities which she had been advised should be placed in the possession of 
some third party. She showed Mr. Reynolds what was to be enclosed in the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


457 


package, the piincipal items being a trust deed for ten millions, two 
hundred and forty-six thousand dollars, a note for five million dollars, and 
another one for one million, two hundred and fifty thousand, all in favor of 
Cassie L. Chadwick and signed x\ndrew Carnegie/ These documents were 
enclosed in a large envelope, carefully fastened with sealing-wax, and en¬ 
dorsed, Tapers of Cassie L. Chadwick—for safe keeping only.’ The party 
now proceeded to the bank. A drawer was selected and the package locked 
up. Before leaving the bank Mrs. Chadwick gave to Mr. Reynolds a memor¬ 
andum of the contents of the package containing the items that he had seen 
put into the package. On returning home she telephoned to Mr. Reynolds, 
apparently in some alarm, saying that she had forgotten to keep a copy of 
the memorandum she had given him, and asking him if he would not kindly 
send her a copy, so that she also might have a memorandum of the contents 
of the package to place with her papers, against the possibility of her death.” 

“Mr. Reynolds took a sheet of the bank paper with its lithographed 
heading, copied the memorandum on the sheet and signed his name. She 
had not asked him to sign it; that may have been a mere force of habit, 
unless the reader is prepared to believe that Mr. Reynolds was a confederate, 
a supposition that all Cleveland rejected. Had he not signed it, Cassie Chad¬ 
wick’s path of glory might not have led to so many graves. Being now in 
whispered possession of the same mystery concerning Mrs. Chadwick’s birth 
that had come to the knowledge of the Cleveland Attorney, Mr. Reynolds 
was convinced that he was not only the custodian of securities worth over 
sixteen millions of dollars, but of an astounding secret, which if known 
would stir a continent.” 

Having laid the foundation for unlimited credit the history of the 
subsequent transactions of this notorious woman, up to the time of her 
arrest, reads like a fancy of the brain. We have told of her extravagance in 
expenditures. By liberal bonuses and the arts that she possessed she 
borrowed over $1,000,000 from banks and bankers in ninety days on worth¬ 
less securities. Bankers went down before her in rapid succession. The 
saddest case being that of Charles T. Beckwith of the Citizens National 
Bank of Oberlin. 

After torturing the soul of Mr. Beckwith, wrecking the bank, drawing 
large sums from many sources, she turned her attention to Pittsburgh. 
Here she played upon the fact that Mr. Carnegie had some enemies there, 
rivals in business. She had a meeting there described as having occurred at 
the apartments of Mrs. Chadwick at the hotel. When the millionaires 
entered the room they were amazed at the sight that met their eyes. Flowers, 
diamonds and pearls in careless profusion. Mrs. Chadwick told them that 
Mr. Carnegie was a great friend of her mother and that the unnatural 
father of a natural daughter had tied up her fortune temporarily, which was 
the occasion of her wanting a loan. She got $300,000. 

The final denouement was near at hand, when, after a confession was 
secured from Mr. Beckwith by District Attorney, John J. Sullivan, a war¬ 
rant was issued for her arrest on a technical charge connected with her 
transactions with the Oberlin bank. As we see it now this was the thing 
to do but it required some nerve in view of the fact that the newspapers of 
the city and the banks generally and many of the leading citizens were still 
of the'opinion that all would be made right. The arrest came in time to 
prevent further losses and possibly the escape of the now hunted debtor 
to foreign lands. The trial was on a charge somewhat difficult to sustain and 
with eminent counsel on the defense it was widely published. The District 
Attorney Mr. Sullivan and his assistant T. H. Garry were kept busy in this 
most interesting trial. Andrew Carnegie appeared as a witness, lhe 
district attorney said to the jury: “Gentlemen, I say to you in my closing 


458 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


argument, in my closing words, as a final appeal to your judgment, your 
intellect, your courage; that the evidence in this case conclusively proves, 
beyond existence of a reasonable doubt, the allegations of this indictment, 
the proofs that you have before you a criminal of such conspicuous note— 
notorious and dangerous character—the fate of whom never was determined 
before by any jury in any court.” 

Of the present judge of the District Court, the Cleveland member, 
Judge D. C. Westenhaver, we have spoken. The present clerk is B. C. 
Miller, and the chief deputy, Fred J. Denzler, both of whom have given 
long and faithful service. Carl D. Friebolin is referee in bankruptcy. 

The Common Pleas Court has now twelve judges and there are sixteen 
judges on the bench of the Municipal Court. Of the judges that have served 
on the Common Pleas bench in recent years many have served for long 
periods, thus indicating that the elective system has not prevented the retain¬ 
ing of able and conscientious men in that position. Some have resigned 
whose tenure of position would no doubt have been good for many years 
had they chosen to remain. The present judges are Homer G. Powell, 
Presiding Judge, Thomas M. Kennedy, who served for several terms as 
judge of the Police Court before being elected to the Common Pleas bench, 
and who has the distinction of being the only man, elected over an opponent, 
who carried every precinct in the county. James B. Ruhl, Daniel B. Cull, 
Walter McMahon, Alvin J. Pearson, George P. Baehr, Frank C. Phillips, 
son of Judge George L. Phillips, who preceded him on the bench and whose 
long and creditable career gave him the title, in its closing years, of “Dean” 
of the Common Pleas bench, Samuel E. Kramer, Maurice Bernon, Adrian 

G. Newcomb and Frederick P. Walther. 

Judge W. B. Neff, who died in 1923 having served but two years of 
his last elective term, was a native of Prebel County, Ohio, educated at 
Ohio Wesleyan University and the Cincinnati Law School, and was admitted 
to the bar in 1876. Was county prosecuting attorney before being elected 
to the Common Pleas bench. He served as judge nearly a quarter of a 
century. Shortly before his death he published a volume entitled “The 
Bench and Bar of Northern Ohio.” He had a rare command of language 
and was credited with using the largest vocabulary of any man at the bar. 
Clucus W. Collister was an able judge, whose service at the bar and in the 
office of the prosecuting attorney gave him the prominence that gained 
him a place on the bench. William A. Babcock, who had the judgment and 
ability and legal knowledge of an ideal judge, Theodore L. Strimple, who 
graduated from the office of prosecuting attorney, Madison W. Beacom, 
careful and considerate, James Lawrence, of whom we have spoken, George 

H. Schwam, of good legal mind and from good family stock, Henry B. 
Chapman, whose ability as a judge was demonstrated, who after leaving the 
bench practiced law with Hon. Paul Howland until his death, Harvey R. 
Keeler, who came to the bench after serving as prosecuting attorney, 
brederick L. Taft, and J. M. Shallenberger, who served by appointment, 
the former until his death a member of the firm of Smith, Taft and Arter, 
and the latter having served as district judge in the Philippines, George 
B. Solders, able and fearless, Chas. J. Estep, and S. S. Ford, who were a 
credit to the bench, T. K. Dissette, who left the ministry for the law, an 
orator of note and a creditable judge, Alfred W. Lamson and Gershomm 
Barber of the earlier judges, and Conway W. Noble and Henry McKinney, 
also of an earlier date, Walter C. Ong, and Frank E. Dellenbough, the latter 
having dropped away from Plato’s standard and in endeavoring to “gratify 
a friend” fell from grace and was disbarred by the Circuit Court while serv¬ 
ing as a Judge of the Common Pleas, are names that come to mind in vivid 
remembrance as we write of the bench and bar of Cleveland. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


459 


Two of the earlier judges that have not been mentioned were John C. 
Hutchins and E. J. Blandin. Both of these would deserve a prominent 
place in any history of the bench and bar of Cleveland. Judge Hutchins, 
one of the founders of the Cleveland Bar Association, and a present member 
after fifty years of activity, Judge Blandin, one of the originators and pro¬ 
moters of the Federal plan of city government, who engaged in a joint 
debate with Hon. Theodore E. Burton, which brought out a large meeting 
in a congressional campaign, and added to the fame of both contestants. 

Two members of the Cleveland bar have served as members of the 
President’s cabinet at Washington. James R. Garfield, son of President 
Garfield, who was a member of President Roosevelt’s cabinet, and Newton 
D. Baker, who served as Secretary of War under President Wilson. 

The office of justice of the peace in the Township of Cleveland was 
abolished when the Municipal Court was established. The justices of 
Cleveland Township were usually members of the bar. Among them were 
John Brown, Wm. J. Hart, Robert T. Morrow, Edward H. Bohm, Levi F. 
Bauder, Frederick M. Nellis, John P. Green, and Thomas E. Greene, the 
last named now serving on the bench of the Municipal Court. 

This court has now grown with the increase of the city until there are 
now sixteen judges. John P. Dempsey is chief justice. The other judges 
are William B. Beebe, Thomas E. Greene, David Moylan, Samuel H. Sil- 
bert, Charles L. Selzer, Alva R. Corlett, F. L. Stevens, Joseph F. Sawicki, 
Virgil J. Terrell, Stanley L. Orr, Lee E. Skeel, Mary B. Grossman, Oscar 
C. Bell, Martin L. Sweeney, and Bradley Hull. Peter J. Henry is clerk, and 
Martin Thumm, bailiff, which latter office corresponds to that of sheriff in 
the Common Pleas Court. A former chief justice of this court, whose 
record as a judge was good, while holding a position as judge was tried 
for murder growing out of an escapade connected with the night life of the 
city. He was acquitted of this charge but was immediately indicted and tried 
for perjury in connection with the murder trial. He was convicted and is 
now serving a sentence in the penitentiary. This judge was William H. 
McGannon. It is not pleasant to record this fact connected with the history 
of this court except to note that the prosecution was aided by the Cleveland 
Bar Association thus showing that the members of the Cleveland bar are 
active in condemning malfeasance among its members and are intent upon 
maintaining a high standard, and desire to show the community that neither 
place, position nor power, can shield wrong doing. 

The bar of Cleveland has grown from one lawyer at the beginning of the 
nineteenth century, Samuel Huntington, to 500 in the ’70s, 800 in the ’80s, 
and a little fewer than 2,000 at the present time. Of this great number 
mention has been made largely of those who have held and are holding 
judicial positions. Even if we should extend this chapter beyond a reason¬ 
able limit some would be omitted who deserve mention. We can only 
touch here and there in a brief final summary. William H. Boyd, of the 
firm of Boyd, Cannon, Brooks and Wickham, whose high position at the 
bar is due to a successful career, that no judicial position could enhance, 
and who came to Cleveland to make his start, Harry Payor, of the firm 
of Payor, Winch, Karsh and Minshall, who served in a public way by 
acting as assistant to Law Director Newton D. Baker, and who has achieved 
success by the careful preparation of his cases and a rare genius for pre¬ 
senting them to the court and jury, Paul Howland of the original firm of 
Chapman and Howland, who after serving several terms in Congress, has 
by preference devoted himself to the law, declining flattering offers out¬ 
side of its domain, J. H. Hogsett, of the firm of Tolies, Hogsett, Ginn 
and Morley, who is eminently fitted for the bench but has never sought 
a place thereon, and the other members of the firm of whom the same 
could be said, L. J. Grossman, who has represented in the courts of Cleve- 


460 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


land a multitude of leading business firms of New York City, and whose 
firm is Grossman and Grossman, Joe G. Fogg, and William L. David, 
well grounded in the law, able and safe as counselors and advocates, Judge 
Pierre White, who resigned from the Municipal Court bench, and John 

A. Cline, who served the county as prosecuting attorney, whose arguments 
are rapier thrusts, Frank N. Wilcox, of kindly memory, whose life was 
devoted to the law, his family and friends, and who refused a place on 
the bench, Owen N. Wilcox, a son, whose practice is now confined to pre¬ 
paring briefs for the reviewing courts, John Fackler, the fearless, George 

B. Harris, always interesting, who served as president of the State Bar 
Association, former Lieut.-Gov. Francis W. Treadway, of the firm of 
Treadway and Marlatt, who exemplifies in his life high ideals, are some of 
those who come to mind as we write. 

It will be noticed that in our discussion of the bench and bar of 
Cleveland thus far, no mention has been made of the part played bv 
women. Their participation in the legal profession, to any marked degree, 
has been quite recent. In Mrs. W. A. Ingham’s interesting work on “The 
Women of Cleveland,” published in 1893, she only mentions one woman 
lawyer. The first woman to be admitted to the bar in Cleveland was Miss 
Gabrielle Stewart, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. Coe Stewart. Miss 
Stewart was a talented and interesting and versatile young lady but did not 
engage in actual law practice. Mary Spargo Fraser is the woman men¬ 
tioned in Mrs. Ingham’s book. She practiced in the courts for many years 
practically alone so far as her sex was concerned. Mrs. Ingham says of her, 
in a paragraph, this much: “Mary S. Fraser, a lawyer, works con¬ 
stantly to forward the day when women shall have the franchise.” That 
dav has come and with it the participation of women in public affairs to a 
constantly increasing extent and in the legal profession in the same ratio. 
The Cleveland directory gives the names of seventeen women lawyers 
engaged in the practice of law at the present time. More than that, they 
are represented on the bench, and so far as Cleveland is concerned the new 
order is found to be of benefit. Mrs. Marie G. Galleher gives her attention 
largely to specializing as a consultant in domestic relations. There is a law 
firm composed of women under the title of Marco and Marco. The mem¬ 
bers are Helen M. Marco and Marguerite Marco. The most conspicuous 
woman member of the Cleveland bar is Judge Florence Allen. Miss Allen 
had served for some years as an assistant in the office of the prosecuting at¬ 
torney of the county and had there shown marked ability. At the first elec¬ 
tion under the new franchise amendment to the Constitution she became 
a candidate for judge of the Court of Common Pleas and was elected by a 
very large majority. It is no idle compliment to say that she at once took 
high rank and that the administration of justice in the city and county was 
greatly improved by her presence on the bench. After serving as judge of 
the Common Pleas long enough to demonstrate her ability she was elected 
and is now serving as judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio. 

At the same election, (1923), Miss Mary B. Grossman was elected judge 
of the Municipal Court of Cleveland. Miss Grossman was elected after 
practicing in the Municipal, State and United States courts. Another con¬ 
spicuous member of the Cleveland bar is Miss Irene Nungesser for whom 
many predict a brilliant future. Miss Nungesser is assistant United States 
District Attorney. Another should be mentioned in this connection, Miss 
Eva L. Jaffa, Assistant County Prosecuting Attorney, who is not a figure 
head in the office but actively engaged in the trial of cases. This field of 
the law so recently invaded by women will no doubt find their numbers 
increased from year to year. There are from twenty to twenty-five women 
students in the Cleveland Law School alone and no doubt the numbers in 
other schools are in the same proportion. 


CHAPTER XXXI 


CLEVELAND’S PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS, MEDICAL 
COLLEGES, CLINICS AND HOSPITALS 

“This is the way physicians mend or end us, 

Secundum artem, but although we sneer 
In health, when ill we call them to attend us, 

Without the least propensity to jeer.” 

—Byron. 

As we have said, Cleveland had a United States senator before it had a 
doctor. Dr. David Long was the first physician to locate in Cleveland. 
He was born in Washington County, New York, in 1787 and came to 
Cleveland in 1810 at the age of twenty-three. At this time he was the 
only doctor in Cuyahoga County. His arrival was hailed with joy because 
Cleveland was a very unhealthy neighborhood and the little settlement was 
suffering from fever and ague, and typhus fever, and other maladies of a 
kindred nature. Doctor Long was a successful practitioner, a typical 
pioneer, and became prominent in the civic life of the community. Plis 
visits were made on horseback over a wide extent of territory, by day and 
by night, through the forests of the Western reserve. When on a visit to a 
patient at Black River he learned of Hull’s surrender of Detroit and he rode 
to Cleveland, twenty-eight miles, in two hours and a quarter to notify the 
people. To appreciate this feat a knowledge of the condition of the forest 
roads is essential. He was in continuous medical practice for thirty years. 
He was elected county commissioner when the contest between Newburgh 
and Cleveland for the selection of the county seat was on, as we have 
related, and his election settled the contest in favor of Cleveland. He 
served as a surgeon in the army in the War of 1812 and won a lasting 
fame and at his death left an honored memory. He died in 1851 at the 
age of sixty-four. 

An early physician who won a high reputation as a practitioner and a 
citizen was Dr. Edwin W. Cowles, who came to Cleveland in 1832. On the 
year of his arrival an incident that tested the mettle of the young doctor 
occurred. A boat called the “Henry Clay” arrived at the dock at the foot 
of Superior Street, from Detroit. As was usual on such occasions a large 
crowd collected, for the arrival of a vessel was an “event” in the com¬ 
munity. The captain came on deck and announced to the people assembled 
that Asiatic cholera had broken out among passengers and crew and said: 
“For God’s sake send a doctor aboard.” He said there were several dead 
and many sick. The crowd scattered and a messenger hurried to the office 
of Doctor Cowles. The doctor responded quickly and ministered to the 
sick and dying. A meeting of the citizens was held and it was voted to 
order the boat away, only Doctor Cowles and Thomas P. May voting in the 
negative, and the Henry Clay was obliged to leave. Doctor Cowles 
volunteered, against the advice of many friends, who considered it sure 
death, to accompany the boat on its return. He entered the charnel ship 
and remained until everything possible was done to relieve the sick and the 

461 


462 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


dying. He was a great abolitionist in the days when that was an unpopular 
postion, was the first member of the “Old Liberty Guard” of Cleveland, 
but died just before the abolition of slavery, which was the great desire of 
his heart. Doctor Cowles was the father of Edwin Cowles of Cleveland 
Leader fame. 

One of the most famous of Cleveland’s early physicians was Dr. Jared 
P. Kirtland, of whom we have spoken in the chapter on Rockport. He was 
an honor to any community. He was born at Wallingford, Connecticut, 
in 1795. At the age of fifteen he came to Ohio with his parents, who 



Dr. David Long 

settled in Poland Township. His father was a general agent of the Con¬ 
necticut Land Company. The father early decided that his son should be a 
doctor and sent him to the famous medical school of Doctor Rush at 
Philadelphia to be educated. He came back to Poland, Mahoning County, 
and engaged in the practice of medicine. While engaged in the practice of 
his profession as a country physician he cultivated and acquired a taste for 
natural science and for twenty years was an eager student of animal and 
vegetable life. His researches were published under the patronage of the 
Boston Historical Society and he became a high authority in that depart¬ 
ment of science. In 1838 he was appointed to the department of natural 
history in connection with the geological survey organized by the State of 
Ohio. He first held a chair in the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati and 
then held the same position in the Cleveland Medical College. Of his life 
after he bought a residence in Rockport and engaged in fruit culture we 






THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


46a 


have spoken. He died in Rockport, December 10, 1877, at the age of 
eighty-four. The Kirtland Academy of Natural Science founded by him 
existed for many years in Cleveland. 

Another physician of Cleveland became noted for his scientific re¬ 
searches, Dr. John H. Salisbury. He was of Welsh descent but was born, 
in the State of New York. He graduated from the Albany Medical 
College in 1850. Like Doctor Kirtland he began the study of plant and 
animal life quite early and gave the benefit of his study to the public in 
printed articles. He became a member of many societies, including the 
American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Albany Insti¬ 
tute, the Natural History Society of Montreal, Canada, the Philosophical 
Society of Great Britain, the American Antiquarian Society, the Western 
Reserve Historical Society, of which he was vice president, and many 
others. He won the first prize for the best essay on the “Anatomy and 
History of Plants.” His published articles were legion. He began the 
study of microscopic medicine as early as 1849 and in 1858 began the study 
of alimentation, diphtheria, intermittent and remittant fevers, measles and 
other studies involving the use of the microscope. He came to Cleveland 
in 1864 and assisted in founding the Charity Hospital Medical College, 
where he gave lectures. He was president of the Institute of Micrology,. 
and was at one time in charge of the state laboratory of New York. 

Dr. John P. Rob&json came to Ohio in 1832 and to Cleveland in 1862. 
His grandfather, of Scotch descent, fought under Braddock in the disas¬ 
trous campaign before Fort Du Quesne, and throughout the Revolutionary 
war. Doctor Robinson graduated from the Vermont College of Medicine 
in 1831. In 1832 he began practice in Bedford, Ohio. 

Dr. J. C. Sanders, among the early physicians, came naturally into the 
profession, as his father before him was a physician. He was born in 
Huron County. He graduated from the medical department of Western 
Reserve College under the teaching of Professors Kirtland, Dellamater, 
Ackley, Cassells, and St. John. He later studied in other schools. In 1856 
he began practice in Cleveland, having an office on the Public Square. He 
was for twenty years a professor in the Cleveland Homeopathic College and 
was a contributor to medical journals. 

Dr. Horace A. Ackley was said to be at the head of the medical pro¬ 
fession in Cleveland in his day, and was one of the foremost surgeons 
on the Western Reserve. He was eccentric and attracted a great deal of 
public notice. Mr. O. J. Hodge relates in his memoirs that when Dr. 
Proctor Thayer and another young doctor were arrested for stealing a body 
from Erie Street Cemetery, Ackley appeared in Police Court and assumed 
all responsibility. He said to the court that the thing to do was to fine him 
and not the boys, for they did just what he told them to do; that the body 
was that of a pauper from the Poor House, that he had no friends and his 
body was justly forfeited for the benefit of the living. Mr. Hodge relates 
another story of Doctor Ackley regarding the man for whom he had set a 
limb, who objected to the fee of $10. All right, said the doctor, I will put 
it back where it was and it will not cost you anything. As the doctor 
seriously arranged for the second operation, the man, saying he would not 
have that done for $100, changed front and paid the bill. 

Dr Henry J. Herrick studied medicine in the office of Dr. M. L. 
Brooks He was employed at the United States Marine Hospital before 
the Civil war. In 1862 he entered the army as assistant surgeon of the 
Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. From 1865 to 1868 he occupied the 
chair of obstetrics and diseases of women and children in the medical 
department of the University of Wooster. Doctor Herrick was at one time 
the defendant in a malpractice case and was ably defended by Stevenson 


R<3 Id < < 


464 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Burke. Dr. M. L. Brooks was the star witness. This case received much 
attention as it involved the reputation of a young school girl. Through the 
able defense of Judge Burke and the frank and lucid testimony of Doctor 
Brooks the case was won for the defendant. Doctor Herrick ranked as 
one of the leading physicians and surgeons of Cleveland. 

Dr. William J. Scott, another prominent physician of Cleveland, was 
born in Culpeper County, Virginia, in 1822, and came to Ohio with his 
parents in 1830. He worked on a farm until twenty-one, studied medicine 
at Cleveland Medical College and Starling Medical College, at Columbus, 
where he graduated in 1853. He practiced medicine in Franklin County, 
came to Cleveland and was connected with Charity Hospital Medical Col¬ 
lege, which after a time became the Medical Department of the University 
of Wooster. Doctor Scott stood high in the profession and in the com¬ 
munity as a citizen. His practice was never limited to good pay clients. 
Once when called to attend a charity patient, or one of doubtful pay, he 
was cautioned about going, being told that he would get nothing. His 
reply was that they needed his services in that family and that he was not 
working altogether for money, he wanted a big funeral when he died. He 
was much in demand as an expert witness in law suits involving medical 
knowledge, and cross examiners found him a hard problem. In a prom¬ 
inent suit he was under examination by an attorney, who was given to 
flourish and high sounding phrases. It had to do with a case of dropsy 
and its treatment. The lawyer, rising to his feet, said: “Now, Doctor, 
suppose an incision was made so and so, and a tube was inserted so and 
so,” with other explanatory matter given in a high key, “now Doctor, what 
would you think of that operation?” Having completed the question, he 
dropped into his seat as a dramatic climax. “I think it would let the water 
out,” said the doctor in a quiet voice. Doctor Scott was connected with 
the Cleveland Medical College, and his picture adorns the walls of the 
office. He was a member of the Ohio State Medical Association, the 
American Medical Association, the American Pharmaceutical Society, the 
Franklin County Medical Association, was president of the Cleveland 
Academy of Medicine, the Cuyahoga County Medical Society, and the 
Ohio State Medical Society. 

The Cleveland Medical College, now the Western Reserve School of 
Medicine, was organized in 1843 and began with sixty-seven students. It 
became the Medical Department of Western Reserve College by vote of 
the trustees in 1844. At first it occupied rented quarters. The faculty 
subscribed and borrowed money after a time and built at Erie (East Ninth) 
and St. Clair streets. The total cost of the building was, with the equip¬ 
ment, $15,000. The present building on the same site was the gift of 
Mr. John L. Woods, a successful lumber dealer of the city, and his statue 
now adorns the reception hall of the building. The cost was $240,000 and 
when built was one of the finest medical school buildings in the country. 
It was dedicated March 8, 1887. The first woman graduate was Dr. Nancy 
Clark, who graduated in 1852, and who was one of the first women to 
enter the medical profession in the country. Five more women graduated 
in 1854 and 1856 and no more women were received as students until 
1879. This is now the only medical college in the city. Since its organ¬ 
ization, including the schools of which it is the successor, it has graduated 
over 4,000 students. These figures are given from a brief outline of the 
activities of the school by F. C. Waite. 

The school is supported by endowment and special contributions, and 
the income from tuition and fees, which latter only cover 20 per cent of 
the current budget. The endowment of the school is now some $2,000,000. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


465 


The Perry-Payne family, J. L. Woods and H. M. Hanna are mentioned 
in the annual catalogue as liberal donors. 

The catalogue also states that in February, 1922, Mr. Samuel Mather 
undertook to provide, personally, the funds for the erection of the buildings 
of the New Medical School, the cost of which has been estimated at 
$2,500,000. These are situated on the combined school and hospital site 
of about twenty acres, adjacent to the present University Campus. The 
work is under way and will be completed by the time this history is printed. 
Mr. Samuel Mather holds, and is deserving of, the title of “The First Cit¬ 
izen of Cleveland.” 

On the walls of the present Medical School Building office aye oil paint¬ 
ings of the following men, which include many of the prominent physicians 
and surgeons identified with the history of medicine and surgery in Cleve¬ 
land. These include Drs. Jared P. Kirtland, John Henry Lowman, Jacob 
James Delamater, John L. Cassells, Henry Swift Upson, John Dela- 
mater, Henry Kirk Cushing, Samuel St. John, Horace A. Ackley, Proctor 
Thayer, John Bennett, Isaac N. Hines, Edward Fitch Cushing, Henry 
Justus Herrick, Jacob Laisy, Charles B. Parker, Dudley P. Allen, Wil¬ 
liam J. Scott, Gustav C. E. Weber, Hunter Holmes Powell, Benjamin L. 
Millikin, and there are busts of Noah Worcester and Proctor Thayer. 
The first faculty of the college consisted of Drs. John Delamater, Jared 
P. Kirtland, Horace A. Ackley, J. L. Cassells, Noah Worcester, Samuel 
St. John, and Jacob J. Delamater. 

While these names will call to mind the history of medicine and surgery 
in the past in suggestive power, the names of the instructors of the present, 
numbering some 160, include many who have added luster to the profes¬ 
sion and done much for the advancement of medical science in the world. 
Among them are Drs. George Coates Ashmun, William Thompson Corlett, 
John Pascal Sawyer, Frank Emory Bunts, Carl August Hamann, Charles 
Francis Hoover, George Washington Crile, Torald Sollman, Frederick 
Clayton Waite, George Neil Stewart, Roger Griswold Perkins, Thomas 
Wingate Todd, Henry John Gerstenberger, Howard Thomas Karsner, 
William Evans Bruner, Carl John Wiggers, William Henry Humiston, 
and Arthur Holbrook Bill. 

There are now 2,000 physicians and surgeons in the City of Cleveland 
and while as in the past there are many of outstanding prominence, yet the 
necessity of specializing has changed the manner of estimating so that we 
speak of individuals as leaders in certain lines. The great army of today, 
in the hospitals and in the homes, are dealing with the ills that flesh is heir 
to, as did Doctor Long, the solitapr physician, who, with his saddle bags, 
traversed the forests in the beginning. Great advancement has been made. 
The period of human life has been extended, much unnecessary suffering 


has been eliminated. . 

The college Alumni Association includes all the graduates of the Cleve¬ 
land Medical College, the School of Medicine of Western Reserve Umver- 
sitv; the Charity Hospital Medical College, the Medical Department of 
Wooster University, and the Medical Department of Ohio Wesleyan 
University (known also as the Cleveland College of Physicians and _ur- 
geons). Thus the past and the present of these schools are united. This 
great school, soon to have the facilities offered by the new buildings pro¬ 
vided by the bounty of Samuel Mather, has under its care Lakeside Hos¬ 
pital on Lakeside Avenue. This is a private undenominational corporation 
with its board of trustees. It is supported in part by fees of patients, but 
the bulk comes from private contributions and endowments This was 
completed in 1898 and has 195 ward beds. In the last year 6,205 patients 
were cared for. 


466 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


St. Vincent (Charity) Hospital was opened in 1865. It has 300 beds, 
including 100 free beds. In the past year it cared for 6,475 patients. The 
City Hospital is entirely supported by the City of Cleveland. The West¬ 
ern Reserve Medical School by contract with the city “assumes entire 
responsibility for the professional work of the institution, and has full 
use of all of its facilities for teaching purposes.” This hospital has 1,100 
beds. There are for contagious diseases 200, tuberculosis 150, neurology 
and psychiatry 144, skin and venereal diseases 100, and general medicine 
and surgery 506. This hospital, a credit to the city, is modern. It has 
up-to-date laboratory facilities, a complete Xray equipment, an electro¬ 
cardiograph laboratory in the new building, with thirty-two stations, so 
that a cardiogram may be taken without transporting the patient to the 
instrument. The Western Reserve Medical School has the exclusive teach¬ 
ing privileges and nominates the staff of the Cleveland Maternity Hospital, 
which has sixty beds. In the past year there were 1,090 confinements in 
this hospital. Ground has been broken for a new maternity hospital and 
for a babies’ hospital. These will be completed soon and are located on the 
campus of the university. In the hospitals mentioned, including St. Vin¬ 
cent, which like the rest, is under the care of the Western Reserve Medical 
College, there are more than 1,200 beds, with over 20,000 patients. 

An important adjunct to the work of this school is the dispensary at 
Lakeside Hospital. This is supported in part by the Huntington Dis¬ 
pensary Fund and in part by the appropriations made from time to time 
by the board of trustees of the hospital. There is nothing that reflects 
so much credit on the City of Cleveland and its citizenry as the multitude 
of endowments established by their generosity. At the Lakeside Dis¬ 
pensary during the past year the total number of visits by patients in the 
day clinic were 109,000, and in the night clinic over 13,000. The Maternity 
Dispensary of Western Reserve University and Maternity Hospital is 
located in the Hospital Building. It has eight pre-natal dispensaries, 
located at 2509 East Thirty-fifth Street, 2749 Woodhill Road, 2317 Lorain 
Avenue, the Alta House, 3582 East Forty-ninth Street, the Goodrich 
House, 2573 East Fifty-fifth Street and 12718 St. Clair Avenue. Eighteen 
nurses assigned by the University and Maternity Hospital devote their 
entire time to the care of patients. The Babies’ Dispensary and Hospital 
on East Thirty-fifth Street has a milk laboratory connected with it. Its 
staff consists of a medical director, one physician, fifteen assistant physi¬ 
cians, a superintendent of nurses, and seven nurses, who serve also as 
social workers. During the past year there were 5,388 patients. 

Among the leading hospitals of the city are Mt. Sinai, St. Alexis, St. 
John’s, St. Luke’s, Lutheran Hospital, Glenville, Carnegie, and the United 
States Marine Hospital (United States Public Health Service) in addition 
to those we have named. The Huron Road Hospital, St. Clair, Grace, 
Winsor, Nottingham, Fairmount, Euclid Avenue, Fairview, Flower, Prov¬ 
ident, Rainbow, Rosemary, Emergency, Cosmopolitan, add to the list. 
There are the Hough Maternity Hospital, St. Anns, East Seventy-ninth 
Hospital, with a maternity annex, and others of a like nature. The Eye, 
Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic, the Orthopaedic Institute, the Oxley Home, 
the Euclid Creek Sanitarium, the Hydropathic Rest Clinic, play an impor¬ 
tant part in the treatment of the sick and ailing. There are a number of 
private institutions, the Joanna Private Hospital, the Prospect Private 
Hospital, are among them. The Evangelic Deaconess Hospital on Pearl 
Road, recently established, is doing excellent work. The Sanitarium of 
Doctor McNamara, and the Neal Institute are other institutions doing 
hospital work in special lines. The Welfare Association for Jewish Chil¬ 
dren may be classed with the others named. It will be of interest to note 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


467 


that in many if not all of the large industrial plants of the city there are 
“first aid” hospital departments for the benefit of employes who may be 
injured or taken ill while in the employ of their various companies. 

Perhaps the most famous surgeon of the past in Cleveland was 
Dr. G. C. E. Weber, whom we have mentioned as connected with the 
Cleveland Medical College. He spent his last days in a beautiful home in 
Willoughby Township, Lake County, overlooking the Chagrin River val¬ 
ley. Like Doctor Scott he gave of his genius to the poor as well as to the 
rich, and did not refuse a call because of the inability of a family to pay. 
His practice took him often into remote townships and it was an event to 
have Doctor Weber drive into town with his handsome team of black horses 
to attend a critical case, extract a bullet, set a limb, or consult with the 



St. Alexis Hospital 


local physician. His coming was hailed with joy, believing that it meant a 
life was saved, and in many cases that was undoubtedly the result. 

Drs. Augustus and William A. Knowlton, the latter still living at the 
age of eighty-five, were practicing physicians in the county for many years, 
the former until his death and the latter until his retirement a few years 
ago. Their father, Dr. William Knowlton, was a skilled physician and 
surgeon before them. These sons, like their father, became enured to the 
hardships of the country physician in what was designated by Mr. Kerruish 
as the mud era. Dr. William A. Knowlton came to Cleveland in 1890. 
He had practiced as a country physician for a quarter of a century, living 
in Brecksville, but practicing in the surrounding towns as well. He read 
medicine in his brother’s office at Berea, attended and was graduated from 
the medical department of the University of Wooster and also received a 
diploma from the medical department of the Western Reserve University. 
After coming to Cleveland he held the chair of obstetrics in the medical 
department of the Wooster University and was f c h°sen president of the 
Cleveland Medical Association. He is a member of the Ohio State Medical 
Association. It may be added that he was a soldier in the Civil war, enter¬ 
ing as a private and coming out as a captain He was wounded in the 
service and still suffers from the wound. Probably few physicians in the 














468 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


county had so large an acquaintance as he in the days when he was in 
active practice. 

About fifty years ago Dr. F. J. Weed, who received his training as a 
surgeon under Doctor Weber, began practice with an office on Church 
Street on the West Side. He became dean of the medical department of 
the University of Wooster, was visiting surgeon at Lakeside (the Old 
Marine) and Charity hospitals. His practice grew and he associated with 
him in the office Dr. J. G. Gehring, a fine physician and scholar. Dr. F. E. 
Bunts was next taken in as an assistant, then Doctor Merz, and the staff 
continued for some time as Weed, Gehring, Bunts, and Merz. They did 
much casualty surgery, that is in connection with accidents in the large 
manufacturing plants of the city, general surgery, medical practice and 
specializing to some extent in gynecology or diseases peculiar to women. 
When the Casualty Insurance companies began to insure manufacturing 
plants, this office became the official medical representative of the com¬ 
panies. To know something of the practice this brought to the staff aside 
from their general work, it should be related that, representing some 40,000 
employes, there were often fifteen or twenty cases daily. Under the strain 
Doctor Gehring’s health failed and he was compelled to drop out. It should 
be said of him that after dropping out of Cleveland medical history, he 
went to Maine and there established at Bethel a famous institution for the 
treatment of nervous and psychic disorders. 

After Doctor Gehring left, Doctor Bunts was promoted from assistant 
to a full fledged member of the staff and as the large amount of work 
required another assistant in his place he was given authority to select a 
man. He chose Dr. George W. Crile. Doctor Crile says he was taken 
in as office dog at $50 per month. From Church Street the office was 
moved to 380 Pearl Street (now West Twenty-fifth Street), Here each 
member of the staff had his own horse and buggy. 

A sad blow came to this historic staff in 1895 when Doctor Weed was 
taken with pneumonia and died. He was much loved and respected and 
the community suffered a distinct loss. After his death, Doctors Bunts 
and Crile practiced individually, but they kept the original office and shared 
the expenses equally. Then Dr. J. C. Lower was taken in. During its 
West Side history this office had a record of over 25,000 accident cases. 
In 1897 the office was removed to the East Side in the Osborn Building. 
In the Spanish-American war, all the office staff went to the front, Doctor 
Bunts with Troop A and became its commander, Doctor Crile was on Gen¬ 
eral Garrettson’s staff, and Doctor Lower went to the Philippines. After 
the war others were added to the office staff, Dr. H. G. Sloan, Dr. T. P. 
Shupe, and Doctor Osmond. 

When the World war came, the entire office went to the front as before. 
It is impossible in a short chapter to give even an outline of their services 
on the battle front. 

The Clinic Building at Euclid and East Ninety-third Street is an out¬ 
growth of the original office founded by Doctor Weed. This attractive and 
convenient building, designed by the architect of the world-famous Clinic 
Building of the Mayos, at Rochester, Minnesota, was built by Drs. George 

Crile, F. E. Bunts, W. E. Lower and John Phillips. The cost was 
about $600,000. The main building is 76 by 120 feet. It is supplemented 
by smaller ones that have arisen since this was dedicated and its capacitv 
ascertained. At the dedication, which occurred February 21, 1921, there 
were present 500 physicians of note, and among them Dr. William J. Mayo, 
^ e ^ vere< ^. a ^ interesting address. Among the advantages of this clinic 
wdl be the giving of higher training to young physicians entering the 
profession. It is a place where the general practitioner “can send his 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 469 

patients for diagnostic survey.” At the head is Dr. George W. Crile “the 
master surgeon.” 

While this clinic is established as a private enterprise, Doctor Crile has 
taken steps to perpetuate it by establishing a foundation to the end that 
it eventually becomes a public institution and is never changed from its 
original purpose, after the present managers are gone. There is already 
something over $100,000 in this fund. Doctor Crile became known inter¬ 
nationally at the head of the Lakeside Hospital Unit in France during the 
World war, but his fame was a national one before that time. He grad¬ 
uated from the medical department of Wooster University, studied also 
in Europe, was professor of Clinical Surgery in the medical school of 
Western Reserve University, when he resigned to devote his time more 
fully as the head of the work in the new Clinic Building. Dr. Elliott Cut¬ 
ler, the successor of Doctor Crile in Lakeside Hospital, is a distinct acquisi¬ 
tion to the medical profession in Cleveland. He entered the World war at 
the head of the Harvard Unit in France, was commissioned captain when 
America entered, promoted to major and put in charge of a base hospital, 
and has been given a medal by Congress for his work while at the hospital 
at Boulogne. 

In connection with the Clinic Building it is appropriate to mention 
another private enterprise that will be of great benefit to the profession in 
Cleveland. A new Medical Building has just been completed costing 
$1,250,000. It is located on Huron Road in the downtown section and to 
be rented only to physicians, surgeons, and dentists, except the ground floor, 
which will be devoted to an elaborate drug store establishment. This build¬ 
ing is finely appointed. The manager is L. A. Whitman. It is called the 
Medical Central Building. The advantages of such a building to the med¬ 
ical profession in Cleveland will be apparent to those familiar with the 
work. 

Not a single hospital in Cleveland is self-sustaining, only 27 per cent of 
the patients pay full fare. They are a part of the charities that call for 
annual contributions. The response in the city has never been niggardly 
and a large fund is raised for the various charities. From the Clinic Hos¬ 
pital at Eighty-eighth Street and Euclid, with its fifty beds, ten regular 
nurses and three aids, fifteen visiting physicians, with Dr. Paul Beach at 
the head, we turn to the new twelve-story City Hospital Building, the 
largest in Ohio, capable of caring for 575 patients, and built at a cost of 
$4,500,000, with the equipment we have referred to, and there is a mantling 
pride that comes to us in the contemplation of both. 

The hospital growth has kept pace with that of the city, and eyes are 
peering into the future to maintain this standard. Two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars has been expended in increasing the capacity of Charity 
Hospital. Mount Sinai, built at a cost of nearly $600,000, has been given 
$100,000 since, by a Cleveland citizen, for a dispensary, to be founded in 
memory of the donor’s mother, and the Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital 
Society have bought four acres in the Forest Hill tract of John D. Rocke¬ 
feller, as a site for a $700,000 hospital. The society has already an endow¬ 
ment of $250,000 from Daniel Rhodes, and $115,000 from J. H. Wade. 
It was announced in the newspapers that the building would begin in 1894. 
It was also intimated that the site was purchased at so low a figure that the 
deal in reality carried with it a large contribution. 

St. Luke’s Hospital on Carnegie was founded by the Methodist Epis¬ 
copal Church, and its superintendent is Rev. Ward B Pickands. It is 
supported in part by contributions from the various Methodist churches. 

St. Alexis on Broadway has long been famous. It enlarged some years 
ago and at the dedication of the new building there were present besides 


470 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Bishop Horstman, Senator M. A. Hanna and Mayor Tom L. Johnson, and 
a large company. Aside from Doctor Crile, the most notable person con¬ 
nected with the hospital in the past was Mother (Sister) Leonarda. She 
had both titles, and as a hospital manager had few equals. She was much 
beloved and at her death a society was formed to perpetuate her memory 
and bear her name. From this, others came into being and took the name, 
and it became a synonym for goodness. 

We shall not attempt in this chapter to do more than speak of a few 
of the 2,000 present doctors and the many that have gone before. We may 
dodge here and there and that is all. Dr. Donald McIntosh came to Cleve¬ 
land in 1818 and his practice, while it lasted, was in competition with Doc¬ 
tor Long. He had a reputation for profanity that was known and discussed 
in the community. Squire Hudson, of Hudson, a very pious deacon, was 
taken sick and by some crossing of the lines Doctor McIntosh was called 
instead of Doctor Long. The doctor’s medicine was so unpleasant to the 
taste that the deacon balked and refused to take it, whereupon in a fury 
the doctor said: “Die then and go to hell.” This emphatic language so 
impressed the sick man that he took the medicine and got well. Doctor 
McIntosh soon opened a tavern where the Cleveland Hotel is now located, 
and probably gave up practice altogether. He was given to horse racing, 
and was killed from being thrown from a running horse. 

Dr. H. F. Biggar, Jr., was for years on the staff of the Huron Road 
Hospital and was in 1896 in the British Marine Service as transport sur¬ 
geon. He gained much notoriety from his close personal friendship to 
John D. Rockefeller, being his personal physician for many years. Dr. 
P. J. Byrne was born in Cleveland, graduated from the medical depart¬ 
ment of Western Reserve University, was visiting physician at St. John’s 
Hospital and served as county coroner for five years. Dr. D. B. Smith was 
for many years in the public eye. In his work as instructor in the medical 
college he taught 10,000 different students. He was for some time presi¬ 
dent of the board of education of the City of Cleveland. 

We have referred to the present medical college in Cleveland as the 
lineal descendant of all. The Homeopathic College was organized in 1850 
and its first building located on Prospect Street, near Ontario, on an upper 
floor. Some time after, the building was attacked by a mob and badly torn 
to pieces. The occasion of the riot was the finding of a body in the dis¬ 
secting room supposed to have been stolen from a city cemetery. The 
first professors of the new school were Drs. Edwin C. Wetherell, Lansing 
Briggs, Alfred H. Burritt, Lewis Dodge, Hamilton Smith, and Jehu 
Brainard. In 1851 twelve students composed the graduating class. Dr. H. 
F. Biggar, in a journal article, relates that when he came to Cleveland in 
1864 the college was located in the Haymarket (old Ohio Street), the aris¬ 
tocratic precincts of “Commercial Hill,” where every second house was 
either a saloon or a bawdy house, the rendezvous of toughs, pickpockets and 
murderers, the very worst slum of Cleveland. In the faculty were Profs. 
John Ellis, A. O. Blair, J. C. Sanders, R. F. Humiston, G. F. Turrill, T. P. 
Wilson, and S. R. Beckwith. Professor Humiston was of the Humiston 
Institute. This institute in 1868 was located on the Heights, south of the 
city, and was purchased by the faculty for a college and hospital. The 
name was then changed from the Western Homeopathic College to the 
Cleveland Homeopathic Hospital College. Added to the faculty were 
Drs. H. F. Biggar, N. Schneider, L. W. Sapp, and H. L. Ambler. 

In 1871 the college was located in Plymouth Church at the corner of 
Prospect and Oak Place (East Eighth Street). The professors were Jehu 
Brainard, George W. Barnes, A. O. Blair, J. C. Sanders, N. Schneider, 
H. F. Biggar, H. H. Baxter, S. A. Boynton, G. J. Jones, C. H. Von Tagen, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


471 


E. R. Taylor, W. E. Saunders, W. F. Hocking, G. O. Spence and G. M. 
Earber, lecturer on medical jurisprudence, and H. B. Van Norman, lecturer 
on hygiene. 

In 1890 there was a rupture in the faculty. This was due to differences 
as to the administration, educationally and financially. As has been said: 
“Some were partly right—all were in the wrong.” Two colleges grew out 
of this difference. The offshoot, the Cleveland Medical College, after a 
year, built a college on Bolivar Street, and about the same time the other 
division, styled the Cleveland Homeopathic Medical College, opened its 
new building on Huron Street. The next year its name was changed to 
the Cleveland University of Medicine and Surgery. The building on 
Huron was built from funds donated, at a cost of $50,000. The building 
was under the direction of Dr. Stanley Hall. 

These colleges were later affiliated, and this was high tide in the history 
of homeopathy in Cleveland. The faculty in 1896 was: Dr. W. A. Phil¬ 
lips, dean, and then Dr. G. J. Jones, Drs. John C. Sanders, T. P. Wilson, 
D. H. Beckwith, G. W. Spencer, J. Richey Horner, A. B. Schneider, E. O. 
Adams, G. W. Gurnee, R. J. Cummer, H. L. Frost, William T. Miller, 
Hudson D. Bishop, W. E. Trego, N. T. B. Nobles, J. A. Lytle, B. B. Kim- 
mel, James C. Wood, P. B. Roper, A. L. Waltz, F. W. Somers, E. H. 
Jewitt, William A. Phillips, B. B. Viets, H. W. Richmond, L. E. Siemon, 

G. H. Quay, W. H. Phillips, L. A. Noble, C. M. Thurston, G. W. Jones, 
D. J. Bryant, B. R. Burgner, Josephine M. Danforth, J. P. Sobey, G. R. 
Wilkins, E. O. Bonsteel, H. D. Fowler, H. F. Staples, Pauline H. Barton, 

H. R. Clark, R. F. Livermore, H. F. Ryder, Carl V. Schneider, H. Landon 
Taylor, Frieda E. Weiss, Denver H. Patterson, G. H. Benton, A. W. 
King, W. H. Loomis, Alice Butler, and A. G. Schnable. Judge Thomas 
S. Dunlap was lecturer on medical jurisprudence. 

Several women members are noticed in the faculty list. Women stu¬ 
dents were excluded from the college classes until several years after the 
Civil war. In 1868 a woman’s college was organized. Its location was the 
Flatiron Building at Prospect and Huron. Two years later, after some dis¬ 
cussion, the Cleveland Homeopathic College opened its doors to women by 
a majority of one vote. Each one voting later declared that it was his 
vote that did it. The women then transferred their property to the larger 
college. The first woman’s hospital was located on Webster Street. It 
was moved to Cedar, to Fairmount, and then to East One Hundredth 
Street. Drs. C. A. Seamon, Myra K. Merrick, Martha Canfield, Martha 
Stone, Kate Parsons, and Eliza Johnson Merrick were early women prac¬ 
titioners of note. Of a later date and of the present time we may mention 
Drs. Minabel Snow, Alice Butler, Clara K. Clendon, Eva F. Collins, Jose¬ 
phine Danforth, Mary V. Davidson, Viola J. Erlanger, Mabelle S. Gilbert, 
Mary C. Goodwin, Julia Egbert Hoover, Fannie C. Hutchins, Sarah Mar¬ 
cus, Eliza H. Patton, Margaret Rupert, Mary H. White, and many others. 

It was just about the beginning of the twentieth century when the 
standardizing of all medical colleges in the United States and C ^ na ^ a ,^ 
brought about and all were discontinued in Cleveland except the School 
of Medicine of the Western Reserve University. Earlier thaI ? thls ; ^' 
ever, as Doctor Biggar states in his “Fragments of History, the surgeon 
was also a physician. He was physician, surgeon and dentist but as 
Doctor Biggar says, thes peciahst is a better specialist for having been 
general petitioner.’ The specialist of this day is a natural resut o mor 
systematic and enlarged opportumt.es coming with the- greater develop 
ment of medical science, and the human race are benefited by his expe 

“"SeT,.". 1 ,?® » Cleveland, and gcea. change, have e.me 


472 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


about since the days when Doctor Long pulled teeth along with his general 
practice in pioneer days. The relation of the condition of the teeth to the 
general health is now carefully studied, and the X-ray discloses what was 
before hidden to the practitioner. There are twenty-eight dental labora¬ 
tories in the city. There are seven dermatologists and twenty-four 
chiropodists licensed and practicing in the city. There are seventy-three 
chiropractors and nearly the same number of osteopathic physicians in the 
city. The Roscoe Osteopathic Clinic is advertised as a group functioning 
as one physician. This is located on Euclid. There are 100 Christian 
Science practitioners. Closely allied with the medical practice in Cleveland 
are the opticians and optometrists, who number sixty-nine. These do not 
include many specialists who are regular graduates from the general med¬ 
ical colleges but confine their practice to special lines. 

A pleasant fact to record in the history of the medical profession of 
Cleveland is that of an arrangement agreed upon and carried out during 
the World war. A committee of the Academy of Medicine visited the 
office of every doctor who had gone to the war and posted a notice asking 
each caller to notify the physician whom they finally employed of this fact, 
to the end that the family of the soldier physician should get 40 per cent 
of the fees collected for medical service. 

As we close this chapter in outline of our subject we are conscious 
that to quite an extent in these latter days the individual is lost in the larger 
survey of the whole. There are many young physicians who, today, have 
performed and are performing operations in surgery and successfully 
treating ailments, that in pioneer days would have made them famous. 
Dr. Harry C. Barr, on the staff of Grace Hospital, is one who is from a 
family of physicians and who comes within the knowledge of the writer as 
deserving special mention; also Dr. L. Moore, chief of staff of the same 
hospital. We have not mentioned among the earlier physicians Dr. Charles 
F. Dutton, who was a surgeon in the Union army and for seventeen years 
professor of medicine and surgery in the Cleveland Medical College. 
Dr. Alexander W. Wheeler, son of Dr. John Wheeler, who came to Cleve¬ 
land in 1846, was particularly prominent in his day. He was president 
of the Homeopathic College, was wealthy and aristocratic, and his practice 
among the cultured and prominent people of the city at one time was almost 
exclusive. 

Cleveland has never been a good field for the so-called “quacks.” In 
1835 the Cleveland Herald published a notice that Dr. Samuel Underhill 
and Dr. W. F. Otis had associated themselves in business and were pre¬ 
pared to do marvelous things. These practitioners did not attract patients, 
and they turned their attention to the publication of a Socialist newspaper, 
which did not long endure. 

Two notices appeared in the newspapers of the city that deserve a place 
in this history. In the Cleveland Plain Dealer of May 5, 1924, occurs this 
article: 


“Lakeside to Mark Place Where Unit Landed 

“May 14th will see the marking of another historic spot in Rouen, 
France, the town where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. A tablet 
will be erected on the stone quay where the Lakeside Hospital Unit of 
Cleveland, first United States Army detachment to arrive in France, landed 
seven years ago. 

Dr. George W. Crile of the Cleveland Clinic, who organized the unit 
and served as its surgical director, sails for Rouen, Wednesdav, to help the 
mayor arrange the memorial dedication. Dr. William E. Lower, also of 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


473 


the clinic, Dr. Henry L. Sanford, Cleveland physician, and United States 
Ambassador Myron T. Herrick are to participate in the ceremony. Doc¬ 
tor Lower was one of the unit’s commanders, and Doctor Sanford was a 
captain. The occasion will be a reunion for both the Clevelanders and 
townspeople, for when the unit arrived an association of Rouen home 
owners was formed to make homes for the Lakeside physicians and nurses. 
Doctor Crile and his party will present the tablet to Rouen on behalf of 
Base Hospital No. 4, as the Lakeside organization was known in army rec¬ 
ords. The memorial was designed by William J. Brownlow, staff artist 
of the unit, who is now photographer and surgical draftsman for the 
Cleveland Clinic. The 200 officers, men, and nurses of the Lakeside unit 
had been in army training hardly more than twenty days when they landed 
in Rouen May 25, 1917. 

“The mobilization order brought the personnel to the Union Station 
in Cleveland, May 6th, eight days after the order was issued. Many of the 
enlistment papers were filled out on the train enrouteto New York. Not a 
uniform had been issued or a drill command shouted when the volunteers 
sailed on the British steamer Orduna May 8th. Uniforms were passed out 
on ship, only to be repacked, and drill begun, only to be discontinued, when 
the danger of submarines made it imperative that the ship continue with 
as little sign of military activity as possible. King George and Queen Mary 
welcomed the Americans before they went to France, most of them to 
serve until the end of the war. Letter files of the Cleveland Clinic show 
that Doctor Crile was not only the organizer of the first surgical unit to 
reach France as a part of the United States Army, but that he organized 
the Lakeside Hospital Unit of Western Reserve, the first American uni¬ 
versity hospital corps to reach France after the outbreak of the war in 
1914. It sailed December 28, 1914. Doctor Crile, according to his file of 
correspondence with Surgeon General W. C. Gorgas, also organized the 
first base hospital unit to be given trial mobilization in the United States 
before her entry into the war.” 

From the Cleveland News, May 5, 1924, we quote: 

“Will Observe Hospital Day 

“The birthday of Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, 
will be observed May 12th by Cleveland hospitals, which will unite in cele¬ 
bration of National Hospital Day. 

“P. J. McMillan, superintendent of the City Hospital, said Hospital 
Day is an innovation, inasmuch as the operation of a modern hospital 
has always been more or less of a mystery to the public. Hospitals have 
stocks of groceries more plentiful than the average grocery store. They 
also have kitchens and dining rooms that serve more persons than the aver¬ 
age hotel, and dry goods and household supplies of which a moderately 
large department store might well be proud. Hospitals are finishing schools 
for young practitioners who are compelled by law to serve a period of 
interneship before becoming physicians. They are also advanced educa¬ 
tional institutions for nurses and experimental stations for the advancement 
of medical science.” 


CHAPTER XXXII 


CLEVELAND NEWSPAPERS AND WRITERS 

“The despot in his cabinet, engaged in forging new fetters for his 
subjects—the military chief, who dares contemplate employing the arms 
of his soldiery for the subversion of his country’s liberties—the demagogue 
in the midst of his cabal, who, while fawning on and caressing the dear 
people, is seeking to abuse their confidence to the gratification of his own 
base ambition, or baser rapacity—all alike with the humbler enemies of 
social order and the supremacy of law, have an instinctive terror of a free, 
virtuous, able, and independent press.”—Horace Greeley. 

The fact that so many citizens are obsessed with the idea that they 
know just how a newspaper should be managed, and the fact that few do 
know the secret of successful journalism must account for the multitude of 
failures. It has been said that in the historic field the newspaper graveyard 
covers a tremendous area. Their history is hard to follow because the 
departed left no assets with which to raise tombstones giving the dates of 
the birth and death of the deceased. Cleveland has a large historical news¬ 
paper graveyard but probably not in excess of other localities. A news¬ 
paper reporter turned in an item about a man who had exceeded 
Doctor Tanner, who lived forty days without food. This man succeeded 
in living some forty-eight days without eating and in concluding the article 
the writer said: “We have been unable to learn what paper he was on, or 
running.” There was in the early days a particularly strong craze for 
starting papers, but it is of those that live that history is most concerned. 

Andrew Logan came to Cleveland and started the first paper. It was 
called the Cleveland Gazette and Commercial Register. The “plant” was 
a one-story cabin at the foot of Superior Street. The first number came 
out July 31, 1818. It was a weekly if circumstances permitted, otherwise 
it was a bi-monthly. It worried along for fifteen months. Eben D. Howe, 
a New Englander, started the Cleveland Herald as a weekly paper in 1819. 
He had the local field all to himself for thirteen years, then others came, 
but this paper had a history covering sixty-nine years. It was rather 
independent in politics at first but it soon veered toward Jacksonian and 
Jeffersonian democracy. Then the leading whigs induced Madison Kelley 
to start a rival, the Advertiser, which espoused the cause of the whigs. 
John W. Allen wrote the salutatory editorial. In 1832 this paper was sold 
to two men from Chagrin Falls, Horace Canfield and T. P. Spencer, who 
changed it into a strong democratic paper. Canfield and Spencer con¬ 
tinued to publish this paper until 1841, when it was sold to Admiral N. 
and J. W. Gray. The Grays were Vermonters, neither one was a news¬ 
paper man. J. W. Gray was a lawyer, but he had the New England grit, 
was a hard worker, “clever and canny.” In the meantime the Cleveland 
Herald had changed to be the champion organ of the whigs. The Grays 
changed the name of their paper to the Plain Dealer, or rather it was 
J. W.. Gray, for in 1845 A. N. Gray withdrew and J. W. Gray was sole 
proprietor. He said he gave it the name of Plain Dealer as that was a 
simple, straightforward title and warranted not to frighten the ladies. 

474 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 475 

The rivalry between the Plain Dealer and the Herald became very 
bitter. O. J. Hodge relates that, back in the ’50s, there was a strife as to 
which paper should first print the President’s message. During a whig 
administration J. A. Harris, editor and manager of the Herald, got per¬ 
mission from the postoffice department to open a mail bag in transit some 
distance from Cleveland and take out the message. This was done and a 





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The Cleveland Gazette and Commercial Register 

First reproduction from the original copy, by the courtesy of the Western 

Reserve Historical Society. 

swift horse brought it to town and the Herald thus published the message 
before the Plain Dealer got its copy. This led to an angry discussion 
between the two papers. The Plain Dealer charged the editors of the 
Herald with rifling the mails, with filing off the lock on the mail pouch 
with a “rat-tail” file. As a result the Herald brought a libel suit against 
the Plain Dealer. Mr. Gray asserted in the columns of the P ain Dealer 
that he could prove all he said, except the matter of the rat-tail file, sug- 





















476 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


gesting that a three-cornered file may have been used, but that if anyone 
would send him a rat with a three-cornered tail his defense would be 
complete. During the controversy the word “liar” was frequently used. 
While this crossfire was under way in the two papers the Plain Dealer 
published a local item saying that Mr. Richard Hilliard, a prominent 
Cleveland merchant, had gone to New York. Soon after the article came 
out Gray met Hilliard on the street and said: “Why, Dick, in my paper 
today I have stated that you had gone to New York, as you told me you 
were going. For Gods sake don’t let Harris see you here. If he does 1 
am undone, he will prove me a liar.” Hilliard’s reply was that he had 
expected to go but was unable to get away. He said that from what he 
had read in the papers he considered them both liars, but agreed to go 
home and hide until morning. It is related that Hilliard got away in the 
morning and carried with him a bottle of good old port furnished at the 
expense of the Plain Dealer editor. 

August 20, 1833, the Cleveland Whig was started as a weekly paper by 
Rice and Penniman. It lasted two years and was followed to the news¬ 
paper graveyard by the Cleveland Messenger, which was founded by Beck 
and Tuttle in May, 1836, and survived less than a year. The same year 
the Ohio City Argus was founded as a West Side paper by T. H. Smead 
and Lyman W. Hall, both conservative whigs. The first number was 
issued May 30, 1836. In the course of the first year Hall withdrew and 
Smead was the sole proprietor. In 1838 the name was changed to the 
Ohio City transcript. A Mr. Hill was editor until 1839. In the summer 
of 1836 the Cleveland Daily Gazette was founded by Col. Charles Whittle¬ 
sey* This paper did not die but was married. So much of the vigorous 
ability of Colonel Whittlesey had been woven into its make up that it 
survived. It was united with the Cleveland Herald that had then been 
running several years. r l he name of the consolidated enterprise was the 
Daily Herald and Gazette. 

The Cleveland Liberalist was started by Dr. Samuel Underhill as a 
small weekly. Its first number was issued September 10, 1836. It lasted 
just a year. As early as 1836 the Cleveland Journal, a religious journal 
of Presbyterian affiliation, was published by John M. Sterling, Samuel C. 
Aikin and A. Penfield. The editor was Rev. O. P. Hoyt. It was united 
with the Observer, published at Hudson, Ohio. The consolidated paper 
was called the Cleveland Observer and was published in Cleveland. In 
1840 it was moved back to Hudson and was published under the name 
of the Ohio Observer. The Daily Commercial Intelligencer was founded 
by Benjamin Andrews in 1838 and soon found its way to an unmarked 
grave. The Axe, a whig journal, published from April 23rd until after 
election in the Harrison campaign of 1840, was of vigorous but short life. 
It was supported by the leading whigs and carried at the masthead a picture 
of a log cabin with a “shake” roof. But the shortest lived paper that 
enters into the history of Cleveland was the Christian Statesman, founded 
by a Quaker whig in 1840. Only one number was issued. The Cleveland 
Agitator, a weekly anti-slavery paper, came into being and died the 
same year. 

In 1841 four Cleveland newspapers passed from the cradle to the 
grave, the Daily Morning News, founded bv George M. Shippen; the 
Palladium of Liberty, anti-slavery, founded by Rev. Mr. Butts, and of 
which it has been said that when it ceased to function, liberty was left 
without a palladium; the Eagle Eyed News Catcher, which caught more 
news than money, and the Daily Morning Mercury. In the same year 
the Mothers and Young Ladies’ Guide, a monthly, was born and died. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


477 


In 1842 E. B. Fisher founded the Cleveland Gatherer, a weekly, which 
lasted two years. The following year F. H. Smead began the publication 
of the Second Adventist, which adopted the views of Father Miller that 
the world was to end in 1844. It is a matter of history that the world 
stayed on but the paper ended. An anti-slavery paper called the Declara¬ 
tion of Independence was published by T. FI. or F. H. Smead in 1845. 



Cleveland Herald, October 19, 1819 
First reproduction from the original copy, by the courtesy of the Western 
Reserve Historical Society. 

The editor was Quintus F. Atkins. It was short lived. I lie Ohio 
American published in Ohio City on the West Side in 1844 and continued 
for a time (four years) finally became one of the elements that entered 
into the making of the Cleveland Leader. In 1847 an anti-slavery whig 
paper, which had been published about a year in Olmsted balls, was 
moved to Cleveland and changed from a weekly to a daily, retaining its 
original name of the True Democrat. The next year it was consolidated 






















































































478 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


with the Ohio American, of which paper Edwin Cowles, then eighteen 
years of age, was part owner. The consolidated paper was given the 
name of the first mentioned, the True Democrat. In 1853 this was con¬ 
solidated with the Daily Forest City, the first morning paper in Cleveland, 
which had been founded a year before by Joseph Medill, afterwards 
famous as the editor of the Chicago Tribune. Both of these papers had 
been losing ventures. The consolidated paper was published under the 
name of the Daily Forest City Democrat. Edwin Cowles came into the 
firm and in 1854 the name was changed to the Cleveland Leader. Cowles 



Edwin Cowles 

bought out Medill and a third partner, John C. Vaughn, and became sole 
owner. 

Mr. Cowles was born in Ashtabula County, Ohio, September 19, 1825. 
His ancestors were Puritan except one line, which was Huguenot. He was 
a direct descendant of Peregrine White of the early Pilgrims. He spent 
his boyhood in Cleveland and learned the printers’ trade under Josiah A. 
Harris of the Cleveland Herald. His school education was obtained at 
Grand River Institute. At the age of eighteen he went into the printing 
business in partnership with T. H. Smead under the firm name of Smead 
and Cowles. This firm was dissolved when he formed the partnership 
with Medill and Vaughn as publishers as stated. Mr. Cowles suffered 
from birth having a defect in his hearing, which also affected his 
speech. As a manager and editor he had remarkable capacity. In the 
early days of trial in building up the Leader to a paying basis he exercised 
the qualities of. a military commander, which meant attention to every 
detail. It is said that when sending out men with wagons to advertise 
the Leader throughout the Reserve, by posting notices, taking supscrip- 



THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


479 


tions, etc., he would call them in a body to his office and give them in¬ 
structions. He would inquire if any were too modest to ride through 
the country with the Cleveland Leader sign displayed on the wagon top. 
He would tell them how to make the paste and to be sure and put in a 
little salt to keep it from becoming mouldy. 

Previous to his taking over the paper it had sunk $30,000 and in the 
first nine months of his management it sank $40,000 more. Now we can 
understand the wherefore of the newspaper graveyard and the survival 
of the few. In a short time Mr. Cowles got the paper on a basis of 
paying expenses and it soon paid off all indebtedness and became a good 
paying venture. In the early ’80s it had the largest circulation of any 
paper in the United States west of the Alleghanies, except one in Cincin¬ 
nati, two in Chicago and one in Saint Louis. It had more than double 
the circulation of all the other Cleveland papers combined. 

The first movement which led to the formation of the republican party 
was started in the Leader editorial rooms in 1855. At this meeting there 
were besides Mr. Cowles, John C. Vaughan, or Vaughn, Joseph Medill, 
J. F. Keeler, R. C. Parsons and R. P. Spalding. The conference re¬ 
sulted in the issuing of a call for a convention to be held at Pittsburg. 
This convention was held February 22, 1856. No nominations were made 
but it succeeded in uniting the whig, the free soil, and the kno /-nothing 
parties into one, to be known as the republican party. This was he first 
republican convention ever held. The convention which nominated John 
C. Fremont for President met in Philadelphia on the 17th of June. 

Cowles carried on the paper alone until 1866, when the Leader com¬ 
pany was formed, he holding a controlling interest. He was business 
manager until 1860, when he became editor in chief. He rose to promi¬ 
nence in this capacity from the strength and boldness of his utterances and 
his decided and progressive views. He drew the fire but he made the 
Leader one of the most powerful papers in the West. When secession 
loomed he took firm stand in favor of suppressing it, unequivocal and un¬ 
qualified. In 1861 he was appointed postmaster of Cleveland by President 
Lincoln. Here his great executive abilities came into play. He established 
and perfected the free delivery of mail by carriers. A republican, and 
editor in chief of a republican paper, he first suggested in a strong editorial 
in 1861 the nomination and election of David Tod, a war democrat, for 
governor of Ohio as a means of uniting the loyal Union element of the 
state. After the battle of Bull Run he came out in an editorial saying 
“now is the time to abolish slavery,” arguing that the South by being in 
rebellion had forfeited the right to their property, that the Government 
had the same right to abolish slavery and thus weaken the resources of the 
Southern Confederacy by liberating a producing class from which the 
South mainly derived the sinews of war, as it had to capture and destroy 
property as a military necessity. This editorial was severely criticised by 
portions of the republican press saying the Leader was aiding the South by 
creating dissatisfaction among democrats of the North, but when the 
Proclamation of Emancipation was issued by Lincoln, less than a year 
after, precisely the same arguments were used in its support. 

In 1863 Cowles advocated the election of John Brough, another war 
democrat, as a candidate against Vallandingham. 

Cowles made his paper a leader in local affairs. In 1870 he wrote and 
published an elaborate editorial in favor of the building of the Superior 
Viaduct. The idea was opposed by the other papers, who characterized it 
as a utopian scheme because of the great expense. The estimated cost 


480 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


was $3,000,000. The proposition was submitted to a vote of the people 
and it carried. The actual cost was $2,225,000. 

In 1869 an afternoon edition was issued under the name of the Evening 
News. In 1885 after the purchase of the Cleveland Herald the name of 
this edition was changed to the News and Herald. In 1905 it was changed 
to the Cleveland World. The Leader had been publishing a tri-weekly and 
weekly edition in addition to its daily evening edition and in 1877 it began 
the publication of a Sunday edition, the first published by any daily paper 
in the city. The Cleveland Voice, published by O. J. Hodge, had preceded 
it by six years. The Cleveland Voice was the first Sunday paper in the city 
and the second in Ohio, the Columbus Post being the first. After the daily 
papers took up in earnest the publication of a Sunday edition the Voice 
“went to sleep/’ having been published in Cleveland seven years. 

Edwin Cowles died in 1890 and the Leader editorial management went 
into the hands of John C. Covert. In 1905 the estate sold the controlling 
interest to Charles A. Otis, who in turn sold it to Medill McCormick of 
Chicago. The publication office and plant that had been for so long a time 
on Superior, west of West Sixth Street, was moved to Superior and East 
Sixth. In 1910 the entire property was sold to Dan R. Hanna, who two 
years later bought from Charles A. Otis the Cleveland World, which had 
been running for some years. Thus the Cleveland News of today is the 
successor of the evening edition of the Leader under Cowles, and the 
World. The World began as an afternoon paper in August, 1889, and it 
passed into the hands of B. F. Bower, an experienced newspaper man 
from Detroit, and George A. Robertson of Cleveland. In April of 1895 
it was sold to Robert P. Porter, who had before been director of the United 
States Census. His venture failed and Mr. Bower came into control 
again. In 1895 Charles A. Otis, who had bought the World, bought 
also the News and Herald and the evening edition of the Plain Dealer, 
which were all consolidated under the name of the Cleveland News, and 
this was the paper which he sold to Dan R. Hanna. Mr. Hanna announced 
at the outset that the policies of the papers under his direction would be to 
“present a true and accurate picture of the day’s events in Cleveland, in 
the United States and the world.” He said: “These papers have no 
masters to serve, no enemies to punish. They cater to no special interests; 
they are chained to no party.” . 

The building at the corner of East Sixth and Superior was torn down 
to make way for the present magnificent new Leader-News Building, 
which was occupied in 1913. Only the Sunday Leader is now issued, the 
morning Leader was discontinued by Mr. Hanna before his death. The 
News and Sunday Leader are published by The Cleveland Company, of 
which the heirs of Dan Hanna have a controlling interest. M. A. 
Hanna is chairman of the board; G. F. Morgan, president and general 
manager; D. R. Hanna, Jr., vice president and assistant general manager; 
J. J. Levine, treasurer, and T. A. Robertson, managing editor. Its printing 
establishment is second to none. As one item it may be interesting to 
know that in the sub-basement are tanks containing a carload of ink— 
2,500 gallons—which by means of compressed air is forced through the 
presses. It may be added that Mr. Cowles bought the first perfecting press 
ever used in Cleveland. 

During the management of J. W. Gray the Plain Dealer became an 
evening daily and then a steam press was bought. From 1851 to 1860 
was an interesting decade. The advent of the telegraph, which was intro¬ 
duced in the city in 1849, steam railroads, and later electric power, all had 
a special bearing on the gathering and printing of local and general news. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


481 


During this ten-year period Gray’s staff included a number of writers who 
became distinguished. Among them were J. B. Boughton, who was later 
famous as an editorial writer for the New York dailies; David R Locke 
(Petroleum V. Nasby), editor of the Toledo Blade and author of the 
Nasby letters; William E. McLaren, later bishop of the Protestant Epis¬ 
copal Church; James D. Cleveland, a leading lawyer; A. M. Griswold (The 
Fat Contributor), journalist, humorist and lecturer; George Hoyt, journal¬ 
ist and artist; Charles Farrar Browne (Artemus Ward), world humorist, 
author and lecturer, J. H. Sargent and George M. Marshall. It was while 
acting as city editor of the Plain Dealer that Browne adopted the 
pseudonym of Artemus Ward. The editorial chair used by Artemus is 
preserved in the museum of the Western Reserve Historical Society on 
University Circle. 

J. W. Gray died May 26, 1862. The paper suffered by this loss. For 
so long this virile New Englander had been in active management and, as 
has been said, Gray was the Plain Dealer and the Plain Dealer was Gray. 
In 1865 William W. Armstrong, journalist and politician, took over the 
paper. He had had newspaper experience as editor of the Tiffin Adver¬ 
tiser. Twenty years later the paper was purchased by Liberty E. Holden, 
who at the same time bought the Cleveland Herald. Holden made the 
combined papers the evening, morning and Sunday Plain Dealer. The 
first morning edition was published March 16, 1885. He moved the plant 
from Seneca to the corner of Bank and Frankfort, where it remained until 
1896. From there it was moved to the corner of Bond (East Sixth) and 
Superior. On February 2, 1908, the building was burned to the ground 
but the next issue of the paper came out as usual. The following year 
there began on the site of the old building a six-story building of gray 
granite and steel. The original building was later enlarged and now con¬ 
tains a model newspaper plant. 

Eighty-five or more men set up and make up the Daily and Sunday 
Plain Dealer, to say nothing of the editorial staff employed by night and 
day. For the information of some of our readers who may have worked 
in the early days on the old hand press and for others who know nothing 
of a newspaper office we include a brief description. 

Tracing a Piece of News 

“Copy” from the editorial rooms is belched out of a pneumatic tube 
onto the desk of the copy cutter. With shears and blue pencil the cutter 
splits the copy into “takes” or selections, numbers them and slips them 
onto spindles at the end of his desk. The printers carry the takes to 
their linotypes, put them through the machines and return the result 
type on metal slugs, each of which holds one line to the galley bank. 
The “takes” are assembled there and proofs are made. The proofs and 
original copy to go to the proof room for reading and correcting. Mistakes 
noted are corrected on the linotypes and inserted into the right place in 

the story. , t . 

In another part of the room a “head” or headlines has been set up by 
hand or by machine. Proofs of the “heads” have been taken and read and 
corrected in the same way. Story and head are assembled. Seveial 
hundred of them, large and small, are gotten ready in this manner for 
the night editor and his make up men. Under his direction the various 
stories are arranged in the forms of the different pages. Nightly, news 
copy “dies” or is unused because the night editor finds far more material 
to put into the paper than he has pages to put it into. 


482 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Under the city editor are something like twenty reporters. About half 
of them are “beat” reporters. They cover the daily happenings, the court¬ 
house, police station, schools, Federal Building, Chamber of Commerce, 
police headquarters, etc. The completed copy goes to the city editor and 
then to the copy desk. The telegraph editor has a staff of four copy 
readers. There is a financial editor. The sporting editor has a staff of 
four men, besides special correspondents throughout Cleveland and other 
cities. There are five editors and writers in the woman’s department, 
where society, club and feature news of interest to women is prepared. 
The Sunday editor supervises the selection and making up of all of the 
Sunday supplements except the woman’s magazine. There are three edi¬ 
torial writers, one dramatic critic, one music critic, one photoplay editor 
and one philosopher of folly. In the library and morgue, where the photo¬ 
graphs and clippings are kept, there are two attendants—librarians. Here 
are kept hundreds of photographs, the work of Plain Dealer staff photog¬ 
raphers. There are employed eleven special artists who turn out more 
than 2,000 pieces of art each month. 

The twelve-unit color press, which prints the comic and magazine sec¬ 
tions, is the largest of its type between New York and Chicago. There are 
four sextuple Hoe presses, each of which prints more than 60,000 twelve- 
page newspapers per hour, all propelled by electricity. The paper is fed 
direct from the roll, printed, cut, folded and automatically counted into 
bundles of fifty in one operation. Each of the presses has fifty-eight 
rollers for distributing ink, making a total of 232. Fifteen barrels of ink 
are used each week and 175 tons per year. Fifteen carloads of paper are 
kept on hand all the time. 

This description of the Plain Dealer newspaper plant appeared several 
years ago so that the conditions today would enlarge upon the figures given. 

About the beginning of the ’90s Mr. Holden leased the paper to 
Elbert H. Baker and Charles E. Kennedy, both experienced newspaper 
men, the former being at present at its head, and in point of service the 
dean of the newspaper publishers of the city. Mr. Holden died August 26, 
1913. Of the Plain Dealer Publishing Company, Elbert H. Baker is presi¬ 
dent; George M. Rogers, general manager; Erie C. Hopwood, editor, and 
John S. McCarrens, business manager. 

The history of the Cleveland Press does not date back as far as the 
other English dailies of the city with the exception of the Times, which is 
quite young. It is housed in a substantial brick structure on East Ninth 
Street. It began as a small sheet in 1878 as the Penny Press. At that 
time the other dailies sold at five cents per copy. On the wall in one of 
the editorial rooms hangs a framed letter, which reads as follows: 

R. F. Paine, 

Attorney at Law, 

No. 1 Hardy Block, Euclid Avenue. 

Cleveland, Ohio, October 23rd, 1878. 

Dear Sir: 

I learn that it is the intention of certain gentlemen to begin the publica¬ 
tion of anew daily newspaper here and that you are to be connected with 
it editorially. I am not only extremely desirous of but also “cussid 
anxious” to secure a position on the reportorial staff of said paper. Have 
acted in such a capacity upon the Plain Dealer and lately served as city 
editor to the great admiration of the numerous patrons of that deadly sheet, 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


483 


The Daily Advance. Can you do anything for me conscientiously after 
this insight into my record ? Will you take my case into consideration ? 

Yours resp’t’ly, 

Robert F. Paine, Jr. 

A note at the bottom of the page reads: 

I got the job and still have it. 

R. F. Paine. 

June 15, 1922. 

Robert F. Paine, the first editor of the Press, was made editor emeritus, 
which explains the foot note. Six editors have sat in the editorial chair 
since Paine, Harry N, Rickey being the second. The paper is one of a 
number in various parts of the country published by the Scripps Publishing 
Company. Harry N. Rickey began as a “beat” reporter on the Press and 
grew into the work. His ability carried him up to the chief editor’s chair 
and then further, to the editorial head of all the publications of the 
Scripps Publishing Company. His successors in their order have been 
E. E. Martin, Eugene Mclntire, Nelor Morgan, G. B. Parker and 
H. B. R. Briggs, the present editor. Robert F. Paine, as we have said, is 
editor emeritus, and R. A. Huber, business manager. At the head of its 
editorial page it announces that it is a Scripps-Howard newspaper, member 
of the Scripps-McRae League. From the little penny sheet it has grown 
into a large and influential journal, leading in circulation, and prosperous 
in a financial way. It has always had an able staff of writers. John M. 
Wilcox, former sheriff of Cuyahoga County, was for some years and until 
his death a member of the editorial staff. Mrs. Winnie Paine, writing 
under the pseudonym of Mrs. Maxwell, built up a department of the 
paper that attracted nationwide attention. Professedly independent in 
politics it has usually supported the policies and often the candidates of 
the democratic party. It has never published a Sunday edition. 

Another English daily that publishes no Sunday edition is the Cleve¬ 
land Times. This paper is published by the Cleveland Commercial Pub¬ 
lishing Company, of which company O. K. Shimansky is president and 
Samuel Scovil, treasurer. Soon after Mr. Hanna ceased the publication 
of the morning Leader this paper was founded. Its offices are on Superior, 
at the corner of West Sixth Street. It is young and has strong competi¬ 
tion but is growing in public favor and in circulation. It is a morning 
paper and published daily. 

When the German-speaking population of Cleveland had grown to 
be numerous and its numbers were constantly increasing, August 9, 1852, 
the Waechter am Erie (watch on the Erie), a weekly newspaper printed 
in the German language, was founded by Jacob Mueller and Louis Ritter. 
Its first editor was August Thieme. In 1871 a corporation was formed 
called the “Waechter am Erie Printing Company,” with a capitalization of 
$50,000, which took over the paper. Adolph Geuder was president, Louis 
Ritter, secretary, and Philip Gaensler, treasurer. It became a daily in 
1866. In 1893 it consolidated with the Anzeiger, another Cleveland 
German newspaper, and the publication proceeded under the name of the 
Waechter and Anzeiger, its present name. Its circulation at one time 
reached 25,000. 

From 1877 until the consolidation Maj. William Kaufmann was presi¬ 
dent and business manager, and principal owner, and editor in chief. The 
present editor is Richard C. Brenner; the president of the corporation, 


Vol. 1-16 


484 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Herman Schmidt, and the business manager, F. E. Sommer. During the 
World war the paper was charged with publishing matter classed as 
seditious. Copies of editorials purporting to have appeared in the paper 
were sent to Washington. These contained seditious utterances but it was 
proved that they were forgeries and no arrests were made and no issues 
of the paper were suppressed. Charles W. Maedje, a very able newspaper 
man, was at one time in charge of the publication. 

The cosmopolitan character of the population- of the city has brought 
into being a multitude of foreign language newspapers. Among them are 
Polish, Slovak, Slovenian, Hungarian, Bohemian, Roumanian, Russian, 
Italian, German, Lithuanian, Croatian and Greek. There is the American 
Roumanian Daily, the American-Jugoslav Printing and Publishing Com¬ 
pany, the Americke Deinicke Listy, the Cleveland Daily Polish Monitor, 
the Courier Polish Weekly, the Dirva Lithuanian News, the Polish Daily 
News, the Sieb Amer Volksblatt, the Svet Bohemian Daily, the Szabadsag 
Hungarian Daily, and others. There are over 100 newspapers and maga¬ 
zines published in the city. 

Of the early writers perhaps Col. Charles Whittlesey was more widely 
known than any other with the exception of Artemus Ward, who ranks as 
one of the world’s greatest humorists. Colonel Whittlesey published many 
books—historical and scientific. He was a historian, a geologist, an editor, 
a soldier, an archaeologist, an interesting and voluminous writer. The 
New York Herald said of him that his contributions to literature “have 
attracted wide attention among the scientific men of Europe and America.” 

Mr. James F. Ryder in his book called “Voightlander and I,” and, by 
the way, he should be included in the list of Cleveland writers, gives much 
interesting history of Artemus Ward and his mother, while he was on the 
Plain Dealer. It seems Artemus could have inherited much of his humor 
from his mother. Mr. Ryder described a visit his mother made in Cleve¬ 
land and tells how Artemus and his mother would chaff each other. After 
a remark of Artemus, that his mother humorously referred to as showing 
disrespect to his parent, she said: “Now, Charles Farrer Browne, behave 
yourself, be respectful to your mother; remember what the Bible says.” 
“Well,” said Artemus, “I suppose I ought to, but it is so different from the 
Plain Dealer, I don’t putter with it much.” Artemus outgrew Cleveland 
and accepted a call to New York City as a writer for Vanity Fair and 
soon became the managing editor. Here he published his first book and 
later began his career as a platform humorist. For many years there was 
an Artemus Ward Club in Cleveland composed wholly of newspaper men. 

Among the other Cleveland writers of national reputation are John 
Hay, whose fame as a writer was only exceeded by his fame as a states¬ 
man, and whose “Castilian Days,” poems and “Life of Lincoln” are per¬ 
manent contributions to the world’s best literature; Constance Fenimore 
Woolson, the novelist, grand niece of James Fenimore Cooper, whose 
works include the “Old Stone House,” “Castle Nowhere,” “Two Women,” 
“Rodman the Keeper,” “Anne,” “For the Major,” “East Angels,” “Jupiter 
Lights,” and other books, and Sarah Chauncey Woolsey, who was born in 
Cleveland in 1845, and who became famous as a writer of juvenile stories 
under the pseudonym of Susan Coolidge, but who wrote, as well, histories, 
and published translations. 

Sarah K. Bolton made Cleveland her home after her marriage with 
Charles E. Bolton. Her first publication was a small book of poems, 
which was put out by the Appletons and this was followed by a serial 
novel published in a New England paper. Her articles appeared in over 
forty leading journals and she has written many books. In Cleveland 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


485 


she was active in philanthropic work and continued her publications 
Mrs. W. A. Ingham published the “Women of Cleveland” in 1893. She is 
now a resident of California, but keeps up her interest and membership 
in the Early Settlers Association of Cleveland. 

B. F. Taylor, the poet and Chicago editor, whose poem beginning 
“There is a magical isle up the River of Time,” was published in the 
school readers, and attracted wide notice, spent the latter years of his 
life in Cleveland. His widow served for several terms as a member of the 
Cleveland School Board. Eugene Walter, the playwright, was born in 
Cleveland in 1874, and began his literary career as a “beat” reporter on a 
daily paper at some $30 a month. He has achieved wealth and fame. 
His plays are numerous and all have been successful. They include 
“Sargeant James,” “The Flag Station,” “The Undertow,” “Paid In Full,” 
“The Real Issue,” “The Wolf,” “The Easiest Way,” “Just a Wife,” “Boots 
and Saddles,” “The Assassin,” “Fine Feathers,” “The Trail of the Lone¬ 
some Pine” and “Just a Woman.” 

Alfred Henry Lewis (Al) was born in Cleveland in 1858. He was 
admitted to the bar and at the age of twenty-three elected police prosecutor. 
Here arose some controversy between himself and the judge as to the 
administration of the court and the young prosecutor published some 
articles in regard to it that gave evidence of literary and journalistic ability. 
His subsequent career included a cowboy in the West, a lawyer in Kansas 
City in partnership with his brother Will, the Washington correspondent 
of the Chicago Times, then connected with the Hearst papers, then organ¬ 
izer and editor in chief of the Verdict, a political weekly, published by 
Perry Belmont in New York, then a contributor to various periodicals and 
a writer of books. 

As an attorney he advised Harry K. Thaw that no crime would be 
committed if he escaped from Matteawan Insane Asylum. 

His books include “Sandburs,” “Wolfville Days,” “Wolfville Nights,” 
“The Black Lion Inn,” “Peggy O’Neal,” “Sunset Trail,” “Confessions of 
a Detective,” “Story of Paul Jones,” “The Throwback,” “When Men 
Grow Tall,” “Wolfville Folks” and “Faro Nell.” 

He died in 1914. His fame rests chiefly on the Wolfville stories. They 
portray life in small border towns, with which the author became familiar 
in his cowboy experience. As a political writer his pen was dipped in the 
vitriol of intense partisanship. 

Avery Hopwood is another Cleveland man, who, like Eugene Walter, 
has achieved fame as a playwright. He went to school on the West Side. 
He began his career as a writer when he worked as a reporter on the 
Cleveland Leader in his college vacations and after graduation, until going 
to New York to pursue his literary work there. He is the author of a 
number of successful comedies. His first great success came with “Fair 
and Warmer,” which had an unprecedented run. “The French Doll” and 
“Nobody’s Widow” are other successful plays. “The Bat,” which he wrote 
in collaboration with Mary Roberts Reinhardt, still holds the boards as one 
of the most successful of present day comedies. 

Mrs. Harriet Taylor Upton, for many years a Cleveland woman, is 
best known from her history of the Western Reserve, which was published 
by the American Historical Society. Elroy M. Avery, as an authoi, first 
became known from a series of school text books which he published while 
engaged in school work. His history of the United States, while not yet 
brought up to the present time, is remarkable for its careful delineation of 
the events detailed and its painstaking accuracy. His latest publication, 



Colonel Charles Whittlesey 

Historian of early Cleveland and one of the founders and first president of 
the Western Reserve Historical Society. Reproduced from an oil 
painting by courtesy of the Western Reserve Historical Society. 



THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


487 


“History of Cleveland and its Environs,” in three large volumes, has only 
been off the press a few years. 

Charles E. Kennedy, whom we have mentioned as being associated 
with Mr. Baker on the Plain Dealer, is a writer of great merit. He has 
published a “History of Cleveland” and “The Bench and Bar of Cleveland,” 
and is engaged on a book at the present time which is said to be, to some 
extent, autobiographical. He has for some years given up editorial work. 
William R. Rose, special and story writer for the Plain Dealer, and 
Benjamin Karr, whose “Events and Comments” are a feature of the 
Cleveland News, deserve a prominent place in any list of Cleveland 
writers. James B. Morrow, who rose from a reporter to be editor in chief 
of the Cleveland Leader and is now a syndicate writer of note, was asked 
by Mr. Kennedy to state the policy, politics and principles of the Cleveland 
Leader, of which paper he was editor. He replied that the “policy of the 
Leader is to get and print the news and treat all men and all classes with 
exact justice.” That is the character that Morrow endeavored to put into 
his paper. As a writer he is candid and fair. He takes high rank as a 
writer. Ezra Brudno, a lawyer, has published several successful novels— 
“The Fugitive,” “One of Us” and “The Jugglers.” The last named is 
autobiographical and, under fictitious names, portrays a number of Cleve¬ 
land characters. Farther back, A. G. Riddle, once a member of Congress 
from Cleveland, wrote several successful novels. Among them were 
“Bart Ridgley” and “The Portrait.” In one book he introduces 
Judge Ranney as a character. His books were widely read. Charles W. 
Chestnutt has written novels dealing with the race question. They are well 
written. “The Conjure Woman” and “The House Behind the Cedars” are 
among his books. He is now a practicing lawyer in Cleveland. Archie 
Bell, musical and dramatic writer for the Plain Dealer for many years 
and now on the Leader, has published a novel. It is quite recent. C. A. 
Seltzer, a Cleveland man, is a producer of fascinating fiction. 

Edmund Vance Cook, a poet of more than local fame, is a resident of 
Cleveland. Ted Robinson, the creator and nourisher of the “Philosopher 
of Folly,” a department of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, at the insistence 
of his friends, has published a volume of poems. Harry H. Hudson has 
written more than a thousand short stories for magazines, but has never 
published a book. We must include in this incomplete outline Samuel P. 
Orth and W. Scott Robinson, who each published a history of Cleveland; 
M S Havens, who wrote “Old Valentines” ; Daisy Anderson, C. E. Bolton, 
C. S. Brooks, F. E. Bunts, L. D. Cracraft, J. E. Farmer, I. H. Gilmore, 
Hershel S. Hall, K. B. Judson, E. H. Neff, Samuel Walter Kelley, W. G. 
Rose I B Roberts, C. F. Woolson, B. L. Pennington, Mr. Rhodes, D. C. 
Paine and Judges Martin Foran and William B. Neff, the latter writing 
the opening chapter to a history of the bench and bar of Northern Ohio, 

which work bears his name. AT 

John T Bourke, political writer for the Cleveland Sunday News- 
Leader and the News, could write a book if he ever had time, but his pen 
has been constantly busy through a long period of years. His wide 
acquaintance with public men has given him material for an interesting 
contribution to permanent literature. Theodore E. Burton has contributed 
a book of interest, and should be mentioned among the writers as we have 
already included him among those who have honored Cleveland in 

P Elmer Bates and Tom Knight have distinguished themselves as star 
reporters in that particular field where the qualities of a detective, clever, 
Sent and clear-headed come into play. Both had a born ability in 


488 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


writing up after the quarry had been landed, and both are now out of the 
newspaper game. It was before Mr. Bates came to Cleveland that he in 
the guise of a hack driver got the interview between Conklin and Garfield 
in that memorable campaign for President. This interview at Mentor when 
it appeared as written up by Mr. Bates was as much a surprise to the 
two chief actors in the drama as it was to the nation at large. Tom Knight 
figured in two episodes, one of intense local interest and the other of which 
attracted national interest. The first was that of the engagement and 
second marriage of Mayor McKisson. Persistent denials by the mayor and 
his friends did not deter Knight from following his subconscious lead and 
when the marriage was finally solemnized Knight was a legal witness to the 
ceremony and when he published his “scoop” it created a local sensation. 
The second was the investigation of a murder that occurred at Lorain, 
Ohio, when Knight was a reporter on the Leader under Morrow, as in the 
one just mentioned. The sister of a Catholic priest, who was his house¬ 
keeper, was brutally murdered while the clergyman was absent from his 
home. Another priest was arrested charged with the murder under most 
suspicious circumstances. He was locked up and the authorities were con¬ 
fident that they had the right man under arrest and awaited the trial. 
Knight spent some four weeks on this case in connection with two re¬ 
porters assigned from New York papers. They brought about proof of 
the innocence of the man charged with the crime and discovered the actual 
murderer, who made a confession. 

Ben Allen, as a local reporter and as a Washington correspondent, 
took front rank. His untimely death occurred in the West in connection 
with a reception to President Wilson. The automobile in which he and 
other correspondents were riding was overturned. Jake Waldeck of the 
past and Walter Buel of the present have written from Washington many 
interesting articles. 

There are numerous local writers of books that make up the list of 
Cleveland authors, Levi F. Bauder, L. G. Foster, W. H. Polhamus, 
Charles S. Whittern, and others in poetry; Dr. James Hedley, William J. 
Gleason, Edward A. Roberts and many others in other lines. 

While we can hardly claim him as a Cleveland writer, yet he comes into 
our history by reason of having been at one time a writer on the Cleveland 
Leader, Opie Read. Read was a writer on the Leader when Cowles was 
editor. He has written many books. He was born in Nashville, Ten¬ 
nessee, and edited the Arkansas Gazette in 1878-81 and in 1883 established 
the Arkansaw Traveler, a humorous publication. After serving on the 
Leader he went to Chicago and engaged in literary work as a writer of 
books. His works include “A Kentucky Colonel,” “A Tennessee Judge,” 
“The Wives of the Prophet,” “An Arkansas Planter ” “Old Ebenezer,” 
“Old Jim Lucklin,” “The Son of the Swordmaker,” “The Mystery of 
Margaret,” “Tom and the Squatter’s Son,” “The New Mr. Howerson” 
and many others. His address is the Press Club, Chicago. 


CHAPTER XXXIII 
FINANCIAL CLEVELAND 

“Where there is no vision 
the people perish.” 

It is a particularly interesting time to write of the financial history of 
Cleveland, when there has just been opened to the public (May 19, 1924) 
the new Union Trust Building, the second largest office building in the 
world, containing thirty acres of floor space, and the largest banking room 
in the world, “a marvel of beauty and symbol of prestige and power.” On 
the opening day 136,453 persons visited the bank and nearly that number the 
second day. The Union Trust Company is the fifth largest trust company 
in the United States and the oldest trust company in Ohio and has deposits 
of $230,000,000 and resources of $270,000,000. 

The site of the building at the corner of East 9th Street and Euclid 
was in the not far distant past the site of a frame dwelling of a Cleveland 
physician, but there was also a business character to it for it was his 
office as well. In the evolution of progress the Lennox Building took the 
site, but that was some years after for the locality for many years was 
considered too far out of town for business purposes. On that account 
it was not considered very valuable. The Union Trust Company paid 
$3,500,000 for the land, and the building cost $12,500,000 more. It is 
twenty stories high, being 100 feet higher than Niagara Falls and the radio 
towers on its roof are 375 feet above the street. Among the flower pieces 
at the opening was a massive bright motto, which embosomed the words 
“Vision, Courage, Faith.” These words are particularly appropriate, for 
the men who have shaped the financial destinies of Cleveland have had 
these attributes, to which may be added many more, including fidelity. 
Samuel H. Mather, T. P. Handy, William A. Otis and John W. Allen, 
of the early generation, with many more, and Samuel Mather, H. P. 
McIntosh, J. J. Sullivan, Myron T. Herrick, Fred H. Goff, J. R. Nutt, 
Charles A. Otis and a multitude of others, of a later time, are good types. 

Often criticised by men who fail to get certain accommodations that 
they desire, often charged with favoritism and an undue precaution in their 
management, it is a recognized fact that on the banks and the banking laws 
of our country has depended much of the prosperity of America, and to 
the -bankers of Cleveland much credit is due from the days when there 
was little banking done until the present time. 

Among the men who laid the first foundations of Cleveland s financial 
structure was T. P. Handy. He was born in Paris, Oneida County, New 
York in 1807 He studied in the academy of his native town and instead 
of attending college took a position, at the age of eighteen in a bank at 
Geneva, Ontario County, New York. Five years later he moved to 
Buffalo to assist in organizing the Bank of Buffalo, and was teller there 
one year In 1832 he came to Cleveland for the purpose of resuscitating 
the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie, which was organized in 1816 and the 
charter of which had been purchased by Hon. George Bancroft of Massa- 

489 


490 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


chusetts. Thus the great historian and statesman was the owner of the 
first Cleveland bank at one time. Mr. Handy acted as cashier, brought 
new life into the bank, and it prospered until 1842, when the charter 
expired and the Legislature refused to renew it. We say it prospered but 
it had passed through the financial crash of 1837. This crisis or panic 
worked a hardship to both the banks and their customers. The Commercial 
Bank of Lake Erie was compelled to accept real estate in the settlement of 
the estates of its insolvent customers and it became one of the largest 
land owners in the city. When from the failure of the Legislature to 



Wejtfc?! it ,s? Iffy s s r *s Hs- * r - y 


T. P. Handy 

extend the charter it became necessary to close the affairs of the bank, 
Mr Handy was chosen to divide the property, mostly real estate, among 
the various stockholders. He did not complete this task until 1845, but 
in the meantime he had established a private banking house under the 
name of T. P. Handy and Company. In 1845 he organized the Commercial 
Branch Bank, a branch of the State Bank of Ohio, then dominant, with 
a capital of $150,000. William A. Otis was its first president and Mr. 
Handy took the helm as cashier, afterwards succeeding Mr. Otis as presi¬ 
dent. In 1865 the charter expired and the assets were divided. 

The Merchants Bank of Cleveland, also a branch of the State Bank 
of Ohio, and commonly called the Merchants Branch Bank, was organized ' 
as well in 1845. It began with a capital of $100,000. The first board of 
directors were P. M. Weddell, Prentiss Dow, Harvey Rice, H. P. Weddell 




THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


491 


and Sherlock J. Andrews. P. M. Weddell was president and Prentiss Dow 
cashier. Like the Commercial Branch Bank it closed its business in 1865. 

Now come the national banks, beginning a new era in the financial 
history of the country. Among other services performed by the state banks 
was the issuing of paper money. It will be remembered that in their time 
it was a common thing for the merchant to keep a customer waiting for 
a long time while he looked through a volume to ascertain whether the 
bill presented for the payment of goods was of value. This currency had 



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TWELVE AND AX HALF CENTS. j 
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“Shinplasters” 


no backing except the bank of issue and many banks had failed and the 
money was worthless. It was not a question of counterfeit or genuine 
money alone that must be regarded but the solvency or insolvency of the 
bank that issued it. Quotations were given also, and state bank money 
ranged in value from a few cents on the dollar to par. So tradesmen and 
others provided themselves with a paper currency record to avoid loss 
from accepting bad or depreciated money. _ 

The successor of the Merchants Branch Bank was the Merchants 
National Bank, organized in February of 1865. Its first board of directors 
included Thomas M. Kelley, T. P. Handy, Melancton Barnett, William 
Collins, James F. Clark, Samuel L. Mather and William Bingham. T P 
Handy was president, and W. L. Cutter, cashier. It began with a capital 
stock of $500,000. It was made the United States depository for public 


492 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


money. Its location was at the corner of Bank and Superior streets in a 
building bought from the old company for $35,000. The successor of 
the old Commercial Branch Bank was the Commercial National Bank of 
Cleveland. This was organized also in 1865. It started with a capitaliza¬ 
tion of $600,000. The incorporators were William A. Otis, Amasa 
Stone, Jr., Levi Benedict, William J. Boardman, Dudley Baldwin and Dan 
P. Eells. This bank occupied quarters in the Atwater- Building until 
the completion of the new building at Bank and Superior, which was 
built jointly by the Commercial National and the Second National banks 
at a cost of $180,000. Dan P. Eells was the first president and Augustus 

S. Gorman was the first cashier. In the ’80s Eells was still president, Amasa 
Stone, vice president, and Joseph Colwell, cashier. 

The City Bank, a branch of the State Bank of Ohio, sprang from the 
Firemens Insurance Company, a corporation having power to transact 
a general banking business, but without the power to issue paper money. 
It was incorporated in 1845 with a lease of life of twenty years. It was 
capitalized at $150,000. Elisha Taylor, Reuben Sheldon, Stephen Whit¬ 
taker, C. L. Camp, Moses Kelley, William Milford, Charles Patrick and 
W. T. Smith were the first directors. Reuben Sheldon was president, and 

T. C. Severance, cashier. This bank closed in twenty years at the expira¬ 
tion of its charter, having the satisfaction of knowing that its money issued 
as a branch of the Ohio State Bank was quoted at par. 

Its successor, the present National City Bank, was organized in 1865 
with a capital of $200,000. The incorporators were Lemuel Wick, H, H. 
Coit, S. Ranney, L. F. Lyman, Otto Boise, A. Pomeroy, S. Newmark, 
S. B. Day, Moses Kelley, H. K. Day, B. H. Babcock, J. F. Whitelaw and 
William T. Smith. Lemuel Wick was the first president, and John F. 
Whitelaw, cashier. Its place of business on Superior Street was first 
occupied by the Firemens Insurance Company, second by the City Bank, 
and then by the National City Bank. In the ’80s W. P. Southworth was 
president and Mr. Whitelaw still cashier and S. Newmark retained his 
place as a member of the board. In the ’90s John F. Whitelaw was presi¬ 
dent, T. W. Burnham, vice president, and E. R. Date, cashier. 

In 1917 there were seven national banks and twenty-five state banks, 
savings banks and trust companies in the city. Now the National City 
Bank has the distinction of being the only one left of the original National 
banks of Cleveland, the era of consolidation having united the 
others with trust companies of larger resources for the more efficient 
service due to the necessities of Greater Cleveland and its environs. Its 
present location is the northeast corner of Euclid and East Sixth Street, 
in the National City Bank Building, formerly the Garfield Building, 
which it has recently purchased and fitted up with excellent and commodious 
banking rooms. The present officers of this historic bank are president, 
H. V. Shulters, chairman of the finance committee, C. A. Paine, vice 
president and cashier, C. B. Gates, vice president and trust officer, C. B. 
Reynolds. E. H. Gehlbach and W. T. Ross are also vice presidents. 
There are twenty-five directors. The resources of this bank are over 
$25,000,000. 

The most interesting in its history, the closest to the people outside 
of what is called the business world, not doing a general banking business 
but holding the savings of an army of depositors, having received since it 
was founded nearly $300,000,000 in deposits and paying out annually in 
dividends large sums, is the Society for Savings in the City of Cleveland. 
Its story has been often told but it should have a prominent place in every 
history of the city. 

Its inception dates from a casual conversation which took place in 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


493 


1848 between Samuel H. Mather and Charles J. Woolson. In the course 
of the conveisation the question came up of providing a safe place for 
the peoples savings. Mr. James Wood related to the writer that previous 
to this conversation an employee of Mr. Mather had asked him to care for 
a small sum which he had saved from his wages, suggesting that he might 
add to it from time to time. The casual talk of the two men resulted in 
action and on the 20th of March, 1849, just before the adjournment of the 
Forty-seventh Legislative Session of Ohio, an act was passed establishing 
the Society for Savings in the City of Cleveland. The charter was 
copied from that of the oldest savings bank in the United States, a New 
England benevolent institution without capital, managed by trustees with¬ 
out salaries in the interest of depositors only. 

The incorporators were Samuel H. Mather, William A. Otis, Alexander 
Seymour, Daniel A. Shepard, Charles J. Woolson, Nathan Brainard, 
James H. Bingham, James A. Briggs, Henry W. Clark, Ralph Cowles, 
John A. Foote, James Gardner, John H. Gorman, Louis Handerson, Josiah 
A. Harris, Morgan L. Hewitt and Joseph Lyman. The society was 
organized in June, 1849, with the following officers: President, John 
W. Allen, vice presidents, Reuben Hitchcock, Dudley Baldwin and F. W. 
Bingham, secretary, Samuel H. Mather, and treasurer, J. S. Taintor. 

It began business in the office of Mr. Mather, a room twenty feet 
square in the rear of the old Merchants Bank. Mr. Mather was paying 
$400 per year rent and the society agreed to share this with him by con¬ 
tributing $75. Office hours were fixed at two hours on Wednesday 
and two hours on Saturday to accommodate Mr. Taintor who was 
teller of the Merchants Bank. While treasurer, Mr. Taintor employed 
Dan P. Eells as bookkeeper, paying him, probably not a large compensation, 
out of his own pocket. The first depositor was Mrs. D. E. Pond, who 
on August 2, 1849, deposited $10. 

The report of the treasurer for the first six months showed the ex¬ 
penses to have been $3, the cost of the sign that was put out. The expenses 
for the year were $46. No salaries were paid until July 1, 1850, when the 
secretary and treasurer were voted surplus earnings, after paying dividends 
and expenses, but not to exceed $100. They got $50 this year and the 
next the secretary got $170 and the treasurer $130. 

For eight years the society occupied this little Bank Street office. At 
4 o’clock each day, just as the Merchants Bank was closing, Mr. Mather 
would put all the assets of the society in a tin box eighteen inches long 
and deposit it in the bank vault for safe keeping, calling for it the next 
morning. This box is still in the possession of the society. Tradition 
has it that in the very start a cigar box was used and that the tin box was 
a later development/ The aggregate of deposits increased from year to 
year and William A. Otis, who was president for eight years, once in an 
optimistic mood predicted that the deposits would some day reach $300,000. 

When the Weddell House was built in 1857 the society got its own 
rooms with safe and vault. It outgrew these quarters and moved again 
and then bought land on the Public Square and built on the northeast 
corner there. This was said to be the first actual fireproof building in 
the city. This was the home of this historic institution until the building 
of the present massive bank and office building at Ontario and the Public 
Square, which in its strength and permanency is typical of the character 
of its builder. It mav be added that the original charter was only for 
thirty years, but subsequent legislation has made it to extend indefinitely. 

Among the presidents have been William A. Otis, Samuel Williamson, 
Samuel H. Mather, who was its first secretary, and Myron T. Herrick, 
who was its third secretary. Luther Allen served as secretary following 


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THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


495 


Mr. Mather. The present officers of the society are Myron T. Herrick, 
chairman of the board, John H. Dexter, president, Howard M. Yost' 
treasurer, and R. T. Edison, secretary. A very capable and popular 
treasurer for many years was Albert L. Withington, who was later presi¬ 
dent. The guard, Lawrence Distel, once lieutenant of the life saving 
station, has served in the bank for thirty-six years. 

The bank incorporated in 1863 as the First National Bank of Cleveland 
succeeded the banking house of S. W. Crittenden and Company. It was 
capitalized at $125,000 and its first officers were Philo Scovill, James 
Panned, George Worthington, Benjamin Harrington, S. W. Crittenden 
and A. J. Spencer, directors, George Worthington, president, William 
Hewitt, vice president, and S. W. Crittenden, cashier. After Worthington 
died William Hewitt was president. In 1872 Philo Scovill was chosen 
president. He died three years later and was succeeded by General James 
Barnett. Its place of business was the Perry Payne Building on Superior 
Street. In 1906 we find it on Euclid Avenue, a short distance from the 
Public Square, in a fine building of its own, and with a capital of $2,500,000, 
a surplus of $750,000 and deposits of $23,000,000. Its list of officers 
included many of recognized financial standing in the city, John Sherwin, 
president, Thomas H. Wilson, A. B. Marshall and Fred J. Woodworth, 
vice presidents, Charles E. Farnsworth, cashier, and John R. Geary, Joseph 
R. Kraus, John H. Caswell, George N. Sherwin, Horace R. Sanborn and 
B. R. Bruce, assistant cashiers. This bank is now merged in the Union 
Trust Company, of which we have spoken. 

The Second National Bank organized in 1863 with a capital of 
$600,000, which was soon increased to $1,000,000, has never suffered by 
reason of the fact that it was the thirteenth national bank to be organized 
in the United States. Its first officers were Amasa Stone, J. H. Wade, 
Stillman Witt, George Perkins, George B. Ely and H. B. Hurlbut, directors, 
George Perkins, president, and H. B. Hurlbut, cashier. This bank is not 


now in existence. 

The Citizens Savings and Trust Company was established in 1868 
and in 1906 was the oldest and largest trust company in Ohio, having a 
capital and surplus of $6,000,000 and total assets of $42,000,000. Its 
officers at that time were Horace Andrews, C. W. Bingham, T. W. Burn¬ 
ham, Alva S. Chisholm, H. B. Corner, G. A. Garrettson, Thomas S. 
Grasselli, Kaufman Hayes, J. H. Hoyt, M. B. Johnson, Ralph T. King, 
Bascom Little, D. Leuty, Samuel Mather, William G. Mather, H. R. 
Newcomb, D. Z. Norton, James Parmelee, James Speyer, Andrew Squire, 
N. O. Stone and J. H. Wade, directors, J. H. Wade, chairman, H. R. 
Newcomb, president, J. R. Nutt, secretary, and E. V. Hale, treasurer. 
There were four vice presidents and an advisory board of thirty-eight 
members. A fine building owned and occupied by the bank at Euclid and 
East Ninth Street was its home. This bank was an important factor in 
the merger of banks that formed the Union Trust Company and its build¬ 
ing was the home of the great trust company before its large new building 
was occupied. The first officers were J. H. Wade, 
and E M Peck, vice presidents, and it was capitalized at $1,UUU,UUU. 

The Ohio National Bank was organized in 1876 with a capital of 
$600 000. It commenced business in the Atwater Building Robert Hanna 
was the first president. The officers in the ’80s were A_ Cobb James 
Farmer, E. P. Morgan, D. A. Shepherd F W. Leek, A \ Brooks > 
John McClymonts, William S. Jones and Alva Bradley, directors, and 
John McClymonts, president. Like the Second National this bank has 
been merged with others and has no separate existence. 

The Peoples Savings and Loan Company, established in 1871 at the 


496 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


corner of West 25th (Pearl) and Franklin with a capital of $100,000, is 
the oldest bank on the west side. Daniel P. Rhodes was the first president 
and A. L. Withington was the first secretary and treasurer. By 1906 it 
had grown, had a capital of $200,000, undivided profits of about $145,000 
and had deposits of $4,293,000. The officers at that time were: President, 
R. R. Rhodes, vice presidents, L. Schlather, W. C. Rhodes and George H. 
Warmington, secretary and treasurer, Henry Kiefer, assistant, P. J. 
Huegle, Jr. This is now the People’s Branch of the Cleveland Trust 
Company, having been united to that great trust company with its many 
branches, in the era of general consolidation, which has followed the era 
of the national banks. 

The Broadway Savings and Trust Company, which had in 1906 a cash 
capital of $300,000 and a surplus of $250,000, is now a branch of the 
Union Trust Company. It is located at Broadway and East Fifty-fifth 
Street. The officers in the year mentioned were C. A. Grasselli, president, 
O. M. Stafford, secretary and treasurer, and William Urquhart, cashier. 
Its board of directors included George H. Hodgson, S. Prentiss Baldwin, 
John Hirsius, George F. Gund and Dr. J. H. Lowman. 

The Woodland Avenue Savings and Trust Company, located at Wood¬ 
land and East Fifty-fifth Street, had in 1906 a capital of $250,000 and a 
surplus of $150,000. Its president and secretary and many of the directors 
were the same as the Broadway Savings and Trust Company. This is now 
a branch of the Cleveland Trust Company. 

The Union National Bank, located for many years at 308 Euclid, was 
one of the great factors that entered into the formation of the Union Trust 
Company. It had in 1904 a capital of $1,600,000, a surplus and undivided 
profit account of $700,000 and $12,000,000 in deposits. Its officers at that 
time were E. H. Bourne, president, L. McBride, H. C. Cristy and J. F. 
Harper, vice presidents, and E. R. Fancher, cashier. Its board of diiectors 
were Leander McBride, Henry C. Christy, J. F. Harper, L. C. Hanna, F. A. 
Sterling, Leonard Schlather, George H. Worthington, C. A. Grasselli, 
E. J. Siller, I. P. Lamson, R. H. Jenks, J. R. Nutt, U. G. Walker, M. J. 
Mandelbaum and E. H. Bourne. 

The Pearl Street Savings and Trust Company, with a capital stock of 
$1,500,000, and resources of $26,665,000, is the largest bank on the west 
side, passing ahead of the United Banking and Savings Company, at 
Lorain and West 25th Street, which has for many years led the west side 
banks. The Pearl Street Savings and Trust Company was incorporated 
in November, 1889, and opened for business in modest quarters a short 
distance from Clark Avenue on what was then Pearl Street, now West 
25th Street. Its authorized capital was $100,000, but at the time of opening 
it had a paid up capital of only $50,000, but on the opening day, Februarv 
15, 1890, it received $50,000 in deposits. 

The first board of directors included John Deobald, John M. Hirt, Frank 
Seither, Dr. F. W. Daykin, W. H. Humiston, Tom L. Johnson, Alfred 
Kellogg, Carlos L. Jones, Otto Leisy, J. H. Lindhorst, D. E. McLean, 
Leo Mayer, F. Muhlhauser, J. A. Smith and Henry W. Stecher. F. 
Muhlhauser was chosen president, and Smith Neville, secretary and treas¬ 
urer. The vice president was George Faulhaber. From the start its loans 
have been made largely to home owners in the region south and west of 
the bank and thus it has aided in building up this part of Greater Cleveland. 
In the number of its loans it ranks third in the city and hence its percentage 
of loans over the great banks of down-town Cleveland as compared with the 
resources is very great. It has more outstanding home loans than any bank 
in the city. 

President Muhlhauser was succeeded in office by D. E. McLean, and on 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


497 


the death of Smith Neville, Henry W. Stecher took his place as secretary 
and treasurer. Mr. Stecher had had no previous banking experience, having 
been engaged in business as a druggist, but just how rapidly he learned the 
intricacies of the new business may be inferred from the fact that on the 
death of President McLean he was chosen president of the bank, which 
position he now holds. Like William A. Otis of the Society for Savings, 
Mr. Stecher had a conservative vision. In his report as secretary in 1896 he 
said: “The business shows a steady increase and the day is not far distant 
when the assets will reach $1,000,000. In his report the following year 
he said: “The million mark does not appear so far away as it did a year 
ago.” 



Northeast Corner of Public Square 
Showing Society for Savings Bank, Chamber of Commerce and United 

States Postoffice. 


The present home of the bank at the corner of Clark Avenue and West 
25th Street was built by the Pearl Building Company, an outside corporation 
in which officers of the bank were interested, but it is now the property ot 
the bank. This bank has two branches, it having adopted the consolidation 
idea of the day but only in a small way compared with many of the larger 
institutions. Its home branch was at one time the Home Savings and 
Banking Company, which had been operating for many years at the corner 
of Broadview Avenue and Pearl Road. In 1923 a fine building was erected 
for this branch. The Home Savings and Banking Company was organized 
by F A. Shepherd, who served as its secretary and treasurer, and who is 
now in chargeof the branch. The Clark branch is located at Clark Avenue 

and West Fiftieth Street. __ _ , - A . T ^ t 

The officers of the bank are Henry W. Stecher president john . 
Fleharty Tohn Beck, Leo Mayer, M. L. Ruetemk, A F. Humel, J. V_ 
Chapekfand F. A. Shepherd, vice presidents, W. J. Bauknet, treasurer, and 












498 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


F. J. Greiner, secretary. There are fifty-four directors and an advisory 
board of forty-five. Among these, other than the officers mentioned, are 
W. C. Astrup, William Spang, Harry Decker, Joseph J. Ptak, Charles 
Honecker, Herman Schmitt, J. A. Smith, N. O. Newcomb, Julius Spang, 
. Dr. R. H. Sunkle, Dr. F. W. Daykin, C. F. Buescher, Hugo A. Leisy, C. R. 
Hildebrandt and Dr. L. C. Kintzler. 

The Cleveland Trust Company, the second largest bank in Cleveland, 
has been a pioneer in the establishing of branches for the accommodation of 
its patrons. It has fifty branches and holds the distinction of having the 
largest number of depositors of any bank in any one city of America, and 
is second in the state as to its volume of savings accounts. It has one 
of the largest accumulations of trust funds in the state. It stands third 
in the United States in the number of its branches. When the bank 
began the establishing of branches, a test was made. New depositors 
were questioned as to their reasons for choosing the bank and the general 
answer was that they came to this bank in preference to others of good 
standing because of the convenience. 

The total assets of the Cleveland Trust Company amount to $197,- 
085,375, as given April 1, 1924. It has sixty directors, including many 
men of great prominence in Cleveland business circles. Its president 
is Harris Creech, and Edwin Baxter, John T. Feighan, Charles B. Gleason, 
Henry Kiefer, R. A. Malm, William Rapprich, C. W. Stanbury, Walter 
S. Bowler, W. F. Finley, F. H. Houghton, A. A. McCaslin, E. L. Mason, 
George F. Schulze, F. F. Van Deusen and P. T. White are vice presidents. 
J. W. Woodburn is the treasurer, H. H. Allyn, trust officer, and there are 
seven assistant secretaries, nine assistant treasurers, eight assistant trust 
officers, and an executive committee of ten including the president of the 
bank. Lillian E. Oakley is assistant to the president. A. G. Tame, A. R. 
Horr and E. B. Green are prominent in the councils and management of 
this great bank. 

This bank began business in cramped quarters in the basement of the 
old Garfield Building on Euclid Avenue. In 1895 it celebrated its twenty- 
fifth anniversary in its own building at Euclid and East Ninth Street, having 
$100,000,000 of deposits and 250,000 depositors. It early established the 
rule “No loans to officers or directors.” In a pamphlet, which it issued at that 
time, there were articles as follows : President F. H. Goff—“A Quarter of a 
Century of Banking Service“Pioneering”—A. R. Horr; “Branch Bank¬ 
ing”— E. G. Tillotson; “Continuous Daily Audit”—Fred W. Ramsey; 
“Commercial Banking”—M. J. Mandelbaum; “Relation to Industries”— 
Charles E. Adams; “Living Trusts”—John L. Severance; “The Emploves 
and the Bank —J. R. Wyllie; “The Pay Roll Savings Plan”—A W 
Henn ; “War Service”—D. C. Wills ; “Service to the Community”—Samuei 
Mather; “The Spirit of the Organization”—A. G. Tame; and “The Future” 
by F. H. Goff. In this pamphlet there was also an article on “The Cleve¬ 
land Foundation,” which should be referred to in our history. This was 
organized in 1914 by F. H. Goff, president of the Cleveland Trust Company. 
As given in this article it is a trust fund made up from gifts and bequests 
from citizens who wish to devote funds that they have accumulated to 
“making their posterity healthier, happier and more worthy.” The writer 
says: “The Cleveland Foundation, as conceived and brought into being 
by the president of the Cleveland Trust Company, is the most important 
single contribution of our generation to the art of wise giving and a most 
potent influence to turn the minds of men from an absorption that is 
selfish, to a service that is social.” This foundation or community trust 
in its organization consists of trustees, one appointed by the Probate 
Court, one by the United States District Court, one by the mayor of the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


499 


city and two by the directors ot the Cleveland Trust Company. The funds 
of the Cleveland Foundation already “mount far into the millions” and 
the trustees have broad powers as to the use of the income for civic better- 

?? en i-TT T i e . Cleveland Founclation is a lasting monument to its creator, 
Fred H. Goff. 

The first officers of the bank were president, J. G. W. Cowles, vice 
presidents, H. A. Sherwin and H. A. Garfield, secretary, A. B. McNairy 
and treasurer, E. G. Tillotson. ‘ ’ 

Cleveland, as the fourth financial center in the United States, was 
chosen as the location of the Federal Reserve Bank for the fourth district. 
It was opened in the city in November, 1914, and the Cleveland Trust 
Company was the first bank, other than the national banks, who were 
required by law to do so, to take out membership in the Federal Reserve 
System. It was the second in the district and the first in the district of 
any institution with resources of over $50,000,000 to take out membership 
in the Federal System. There are 754 national banks in the fourth district, 
of which the Cleveland bank is the head. The district includes all of 
Ohio, Eastern Kentucky, Western Pennsylvania and six counties of West 
Virginia. Dayton, Toledo, Erie, Akron, Cincinnati, Columbus, Youngs¬ 
town and Wheeling are important cities in the district. 

Under the law the Federal Reserve Bank is a bankers’ bank. Its de¬ 
positors are the national banks of the district and such other banks of the 
district as qualify for membership. The purposes of the Federal Reserve 
Bank are to provide concentration of the financial reserves of the district, 
to furnish an elastic currency by the issuance of Federal notes, to afford 
a means of rediscounting commercial paper, and to provide a more effective 
supervision of the member banks. The federal reserve notes are issued 
by the regional bank to its member banks against rediscounted commercial 
paper at face value. 

As indicating the size of this great addition to the financial organizations 
of Cleveland, it may be said that three years after it opened its doors it 
had, besides a capital of $12,000,000, deposits of more than $109,000,000. 
Its new home at the corner of Superior and East Sixth Street is one of the 
most beautiful buildings in the city. D. C. Wills is chairman of the board. 

The Cleveland Clearing House Association was organized December 
28, 1858. Its constitution recites its purpose. It reads: “The object of 
this association shall be to effect at one place, and in the most economical 
and safe manner, the daily exchange between the several associated banks 
and bankers; the maintenance of uniform rates for eastern exchange and 
the regulation of what description of funds shall be paid and received 
in the settlement of balances.” Its first members included the Commercial 
Branch Bank, the Merchants Branch Bank, the Forest City Bank, Wason 
Everett and Company, H. B. and H. Wick and Company, Whitman 
Standart and Company, and Fayette Brown. Its first officers were T. P. 
Handy, president of the Commercial Branch Bank, president, W. L. Cutter, 
assistant cashier of the Merchants Branch Bank, secretary, and an executive 
committee consisting of T. P. Handy, Lemuel Wick and Fayette Brown. 
In the ’80s T. P. Handy was president, and Alfred Wick, secretary and 
treasurer. Among the first things done by the association was to decide 
that settlements of balances may be paid in current funds or New York 
draft at the option of the debtor bank. This association has enlarged to 
keep pace with the wonderful growth of the city, but in a history of financial 
Cleveland, T. P. Handy, who built the first fires and wrestled with the first 
problems must always stand out as a conspicuous figure. As an illustration 
of the fact that the banks are closely allied with the business prosperity of 
the city it should be noted that Mr. Handy was a close friend of John D. 


500 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Rockefeller, believed in him and his business ability and backed him up 
in the days when he most needed financial backing. 

The Guardian Savings and Trust Company with a capital and surplus 
of $8,000,000 and resources of over $110,000,000 is the third largest bank 
in the city. It was incorporated as The Guardian Trust Company in 1894 
and has therefore been in business thirty years. It was the first trust com¬ 
pany in Cleveland to be incorporated under the act of the Legislature per¬ 
mitting this class of institutions to transact business in Ohio. The act 
was passed in May, and the company formed in June following. It began 
business in December of that year in the Wade Building on Superior 
Street. In 1902 an uptown office was opened in the Arcade on Euclid. Its 
business increased rapidly and a twelve story building was erected at 322 
Euclid Avenue, where the bank’s Arcade Branch was removed in 1906. 
In the meantime the capital had been increased from $500,000 at the time 
of its incorporation to $1,000,000 and its name changed to The Guardian 
Savings and Trust Company. In 1912 the original office in the Wade 
Building was removed to the Euclid Avenue Building. In 1914 the com¬ 
pany purchased the New England Building on Euclid near East Sixth 
Street. This was remodeled into a modern office and bank building and is 
the present home of the bank. Its capital and surplus have been from time 
to time‘increased until they now aggregate $8,000,000, as we have said. 

The business of the bank is divided into four general departments— 
banking, trust, real estate and safe deposit. It has six branches, the 
Commercial at West Sixth Street and Superior Avenue, the One Hundred 
and Fifth Street Branch, Euclid and East Forty-sixth Street Branch, the 
Lakewood and Rocky River branches and one at Woodland Avenue and 
East Thirty-first Street. 

Henry P. McIntosh is chairman of the board of directors, and J. 
Arthur House is president. Harry C. Robinson, Phillip C. Berg, John 
Fish, Lewis B. Foote, Archie R. Frazer, William R. Green, William E. 
Guerin, George B. Johnson, Louis J. Kaufman, Henry P. McIntosh, Jr., 
Clarence R. Megerth, Thomas E. Monks, Louis A. Murfey, William D. 
Purdon, Earl T. Shannon, Howard I. Shepherd, Albert G. Stucky, Frank 
W. Wardwell and Arthur F. Young are vice presidents. This long list 
of vice presidents is not an accidental selection. Each man has gained the 
title by efficient service in the bank and the whole constitute a masterly work¬ 
ing force. Roscoe P. Sears is secretary, and Louis E. Holmden, treasurer. 
Charles F. Bruggemeier, Clayton W. Force, Walter N. Hoppe, John J. 
Luth, Herbert W. Penniger, J. A. Purcell, Edward A. Stockwell and 
Joseph A. Ward are assistant secretaries. Howard A. Carleton, George 
A. Church, Odell W. Fullerton, Elmer H. Guentzler, Hubbard C. Hutch¬ 
inson, Edward F. Masch, Gustav J. Pravo, George F. Reuter, William H. 
Steinkamp and Frank G. Steuber are assistant treasurers, Tod F. Busard, 
Herbert J. Coates and T. Philip Rutinger are assistant trust officers. 
Rodney H. Garner is auditor of the bank. 

The counting room in the New Guardian Building, the home of its 
own construction, is one of the most attractive and convenient in the city. 
It has a board of directors of twenty-nine men of prominence in the city, 
whose business connections are a great asset to the institution. As put 
forth in a prospectus: “The combination of conservatism and business 
enterprise, is the foundation of ‘The Guardian Way,’ a familiar expression 
in the community, a motto among bankers—the trade mark of a remarkably 
successful institution.” 

The first president of the bank was John H. Whitelaw and the secretarv 
William G. Dietz. 

The State Banking and Trust Company, established in 1899, has in 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


501 


seven years a capital and surplus of $675,000 and deposits of $3,000,000. 
The officers were Henry W. Kitchen, president, John Jaster, vice president 
W. K. Rose, treasurer. Mr. Jaster was also secretary. Its Market Branch 
was then established. It now has six branches and has grown many fold, 
and is a large factor in the financial life of the city. 

The Midland Bank, occupying the rooms in the Williamson Building 
formerly used by the Federal Reserve Bank, is one of Cleveland’s newest 
banks and its history is in the making. S. H. Robbins is chairman of the 
board, D. D. Kimmel, president, Carl E. Lee and Harold C. Avery, vice 
presidents, J. Brenner Root, cashier, Carl S. Spring, auditor, and Tames 
W. Kennedy, trust officer. It has made a brilliant start and is an institution 
to be reckoned with in the future history of financial Cleveland. 

One of the most interesting of Cleveland banks, holding a position 
in the hearts of the people similar to the Society for Savings, is the United 
Banking and Savings Company of the west side, which for many years was 
the leading bank in that part of the city. Annually it holds stockholders’ 
meetings, in which the men and women sit down to a splendid dinner 
and talk over the bank’s activities and its policies. It has no branches. It 
now has in process of construction a magnificent new building at Lorain 
and West 25th Street, which will exceed any building on the west side and 
rival many in the city. It has a capital and surplus of $2,200,000 and 
resources of over $20,000,000. William E. Heil is chairman of the 
board, and Arthur H. Seibig is its president. The vice presidents are 
William Grief and C. A. Wilkinson, who also is secretary. J. A. Zimmer 
is its treasurer, and R. P. Ransom, trust officer. Among its directors are 
William Wayne Chase, Guy E. Conkey, E. S. Cook, J. C. Dix, W. C. 
Fischer, William Grief, Theodore Kundtz, W. J. Hunkin, Edgar A. 
Meckes, Christian Schuele, Henry G. Oppman and Charles J. Snow. 
Henry W. S. Wood was president for many years and was succeeded on his 
death by the present head, Arthur H. Seibig. 

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers’ Cooperative National Bank 
of Cleveland, organized in the fall of 1920, the first of its kind in the 
United States, was looked upon at first as an interesting experiment. Its 
career has proved it to be no longer an experiment, but a success. It is 
capitalized at $1,000,000. The purpose of its organization was primarily 
to loan funds of the brotherhood at reasonable rates. Its declared intention 
was to assist in building homes for the members of the brotherhood and 
the stock is owned exclusively by the brotherhood. Some surprise v/as 
manifest, in view of the declared purpose of the institution, that a national 
bank charter was taken out, but the reply from President Warren S. Stone 
was: “We chose a national bank because of its greater security.” 

This new bank in nearly four years of operation has probably exceeded 
in growth that of any other financial institution in the city, in the same 
length of time, with the possible exception of the Federal Reserve Bank. 
It has employed the method of banking by mail and, having 85,000 members 
in the brotherhood, the patronage has been large in that field alone, but its 
patrons have been of the community and its doors are open to all depositors. 
It was located at the southwest corner of St. Clair and Ontario streets, 
but its main office is now on Euclid Avenue. A new twenty story building 
is now in process of construction which will be the home of the bank m 
the future This is on the original site and will be connected by tunnel 
under the street with the Engineers Building which is one of the finest 
office buildings in the city. The officers of the Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engineers are directors of the bank. Warren S. Stone, as we have said, 
is president, and W. B. Prenter vice president and cashier. 

The Central National Bank, Savings and Trust Company, located in the 


502 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Kirby (Rockefeller) Building, on the site of the once famous old Weddell 
House, organized by Hon. J. J. Sullivan, who was for many years and 
until his death its president, has been and is a commanding figure in the 
financial life of Cleveland. It was J. J. Sullivan and Myron T. Herrick, 
who, a quarter of a century ago, when disaster threatened the banking 
interests of the city, when the New York papers predicted that many of 
the Cleveland banks were destined to go down in a general financial crash— 
it was these two men who led the fight to save the day, and they did. It 
is a matter of secret history that they placed agents on all the trains to buy up 
and divert these papers from the reading public of Cleveland until the 
crisis had passed. 

Corliss E. Sullivan, a son of the former chief officer, is president of 
this bank, E. W. Oglebay is chairman of the trust committee, and there are 
seven vice presidents. J. B. Holmden is trust officer, F. C. Schlundt is 
cashier, J. H. Cole, comptroller, and there are three assistant cashiers. 
The bank has a capital and surplus of $4,000,000 and the resources are 
correspondingly large. 

The Lorain Street Savings and Trust Company should be mentioned 
in connection with any mention of the present financial institutions of the 
city. It is located at the corner of Fulton and Lorain, has a capital and 
surplus of $765,000 and resources of $7,500,000. 

Second in importance to the banks are the savings and loan companies of 
the city. They are under the supervision of the loan department of the 
state, and, while they play an important part in the financial operations 
of the city, do not do a general banking business. Long after Cleveland 
became the metropolis of Ohio, the clearing house reports of Cincinnati 
lead those of Cleveland. This was attributed to the large number of 
building (or savings) and loan companies of that city, Cincinnati having 
five times the number of Cleveland. Scattered in a general geographical 
distribution these companies were making construction loans on monthly 
payments, building up their stock on monthly payments, and the banks 
were their depositories. The drama of the active dollar was being enacted 
and thrift and home owning was being encouraged. The number of 
these companies has increased in the last ten years in Cleveland in a 
geometric ratio. 

The two oldest of these companies in Cleveland were organized in 
1891. The Union Building and Loan Company organized in 1891 has 
now resources of over $5,000,000 and the Ohio Mutual Savings and Loan 
organized the same year has resources of over $2,000,000. The Equity 
Savings and Loan Company, the third in date of organization, is first in 
its resources and size of its surplus fund. This is located at Euclid Avenue 
near East Fifty-fifth Street. There are now nearly a hundred of these 
companies in the city. 

Third in importance in this connection are the mortgage companies. 
These companies loan on second mortgages, the loan companies, under 
the charters granted by the state, as a rule can loan only on first mortgage 
realty. The only collateral loans made are on their own stock. In the 
building of homes the mortgage companies often play an important part, 
enabling the prospective home owner to build where he could not other¬ 
wise finance the enterprise. The Ulmer Mortgage Company and the 
Cleveland Discount Company are large organizations of the city belonging 
to this class of financial enterprises. If rightly managed these various 
mortgage companies are excellent factors in the financial life of a com¬ 
munity. There are more than a hundred in the city. 

The Morris Plan Bank, Borton & Borton, Otis & Hough, Hayden 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


503 


Miller & Company, W. J. Hayes & Sons, and Roland T. Meacham & 
Company are Cleveland firms engaged in financial enterprises. 

Banks have failed in Cleveland as in other cities, but the percentage 
of failures has been small. Usually in case of a forced closing of the 
doors careful liquidation has prevented 'loss by depositors. The Dime 
Savings and Banking Company operating for a number of years was com¬ 
pelled to close its doors, but there was no loss to depositors. The Central 
Trust Company failed, but the receivers by careful management paid 
depositors in full and the stockholders received some 80 or 90 per cent 
of their investment. Other failures have been more serious. The Market 
National Bank and the Farmers and Merchants Banking Company, whose 
failures were brought about by criminal action of employes, whose acts 
were punished by penitehtiary terms, were sad episodes in the banking 
history of the city. In the case of the latter bank many school teachers 
and others of limited means lost their savings of years in the crash. As 
we write, the receivers of the Municipal Savings and Loan Company are 
investigating the condition of that company in connection with the Repre¬ 
sentative Realty Company, the Representative Mortgage Company, the 
Representative Construction Company, the Representative Manufacturing 
and Supply Company, the Representative Investment Company, the 
Municipal Realty Company, and the Municipal Mortgage Company. These 
various companies, largely working together under the direction of Sol 
Peskind, were engaged in a gigantic building and stock selling plan. If the 
affairs of the Municipal Savings and Loan Company shall prove to be in 
bad shape and the company insolvent this will be the first loan company 
in the city to fail. 

The people have general confidence in the banks and bankers and on 
this confidence has been built up the great prosperity of the city. T. P. 
Handy and others of the city had a vision and the people do not perish. 


CHAPTER XXXIV 


CLEVELAND’S INDUSTRIES 

“What we buy in a broom, a mat, a wagon, a knife, is some application 
of good sense to common want.”—Emerson 

There are 15,000 different articles manufactured in Cleveland. In the 
limits of this chapter we can only touch upon some of the more prominent 
and glance at those industries that have the most to do with the early life 
of the city and its building up into its present greatness. Cleveland is 
the greatest iron ore market in the world because of its varied industries. 
It leads in the manufacture of twist drills. The central plant and office of 
the largest paint and varnish works, the Sherwin-Williams Company, is 
located here. Cleveland is second in the United States in the manufacture 
of ready made women’s clothing, it leads in the manufacture of astronomical 
instruments, and of nuts and bolts. Its manufacture of vacuum cleaners 
is not second to any. It leads in the manufacture of electric batteries and 
in the manufacture of automobile parts. It manufactures more job printing 
presses than any other city in the United States. It is a leader in the manu¬ 
facture of iron castings, chemicals, hardware, and incandescent lamps, and 
it leads all other cities in the manufacture of heavy machinery. It is one 
of the largest distributors of motion picture films in the world. Cleveland 
is the “birthplace of the American automobile,” for its first one was made 
in 1898. It now manufactures eleven different makes. It is a great oil 
center and woolen center. It is a large manufacturer of brick. 

There are 3,000 industrial plants in the city, 11 blast furnaces, 300 
foundries and machine shops, and 81 steel and iron concerns. Cleveland 
is the center of a great manufacturing and raw product district. It ranks 
fifth among American cities as to the value of its manufactured products. 
The municipality is a manufacturing concern, for it collects about 75,000 
tons of garbage annually, over the length and breadth of the city, and 
renders it into useful products. 

All this has come about in a brief time, that is within the lives of many 
of its citizens, who are living today, because it was not until after the Civil 
war that the city became really a manufacturing town. In 1879 a great 
steel pole was erected on the Public Square and at its top was placed the 
first electric lamp, the invention of Charles F. Brush, a Cleveland man, 
born in Cuyahoga County, who has been referred to as “the father of the arc 
lighting industries of the world.” 

Something of this remarkable man, who is one of Cleveland’s most 
respected citizens, would seem appropriate in this chapter. He was born in 
Euclid Township, Cuyahoga County, March 17, 1849 and is therefore past 
the three score and ten, but is still active and engaged in scientific investi¬ 
gations. He has an office in the Arcade. His latest work has been a 
study of gravity, which, as he recently stated, is little understood. He is a 
son of Col. I. E. Brush, of English descent. His boyhood was spent on 
the Euclid farm. He attended school at Wickliffe and later at Shaw 
Academy in Collamer, now East Cleveland. As a youth he had a special 

504 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


505 


taste for chemistry physics and engineering. He graduated with honors 
from the Cleveland high school in 1867. While in school he made a number 
of telescopes foi himself and his schoolmates, grinding the lenses himself. 
He evolved and perfected the igniting and extinguishing of street lamps 
by electricity. All his experiments had a practical bent. The subject of 
his graduating oration was “The Conservation of Force.” He entered the 
University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, graduating in 1869, a year ahead 
of his class. In 1873 he formed a partnership with C. E. Bingham, of 
Cleveland, for the purpose of marketing Lake Superior pig iron "and iron 
ore. While in the partnership he continued his scientific experiments. In 
1876 he constructed a new type of dynamo, the first of his inventions. He 



Northwest Corner of Public Square 
Showing Rockefeller Building, Marshall and Ulmer buildings, old court¬ 
house, Illuminating Building and Old Stone Church. 


continued to invent and was careful to secure patents. In 1877 the pig 
iron and ore company was dissolved and Mr. Brush entered into a contract 
with the Telegraph Supply Company to manufacture his patents, put them 
on the market and pay him a royalty. In 1881 the name of this company 
was changed to the Brush Electric Company, which name became known\ 
over the world. It may be interesting to note in this connection that shortly 
after the great arc light was glowing on the top of the steel pole on the 
Public Square in Cleveland, a similar one was raised in Melbourne, Aus¬ 
tralia, on the opposite side of the earth. It was in 1877 that Mr. Biush 
constructed his first commercial arc light. 

His next most important invention was the fundamental storage battery. 
In this he had much competition and it was not until after four years of 
litigation that he obtained letters patent. He secured foreign patents on 
many of his early inventions and these he sold to the Anglo American 
Brush Electric Light Corporation, Limited, of London, receiving $500,000. 

While as we have said, Cleveland did not become a manufacturing 
city until after the Civil war, yet the foundations were laid before that 



506 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


time. The earliest large manufacturing establishment started in the city 
was the Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company which was incorporated in 
March, 1834, and organized in April. Josiah Barber, Richard Lord and 
Luke Risley were the directors, and Charles Hoyt, agent. The location was 
at the corner of Detroit and Center streets on the West Side. It was a 
general foundry and the first important item of manufacture was a patent 
horse power, which had a wide sale from 1841. The company made 
cannon for the Government, plows, mill irons and miscellaneous castings, 
and large machinery. Ethan Rogers entered the company in 1842 and it 
began the manufacture of machinery for building railways, and then built 
locomotive for the same. The locomotive the company built for the Detroit 
& Pontiac Railway, in Michigan, was the first locomotive built west 
of the Alleghanies. It was in use for twelve years and then was sold for 
about its first sale price, which indicates the excellence of the construction. 
It built the first locomotive used on the Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati 
Railway, and the first used on the Cleveland & Ashtabula Railway. It also 
built the first successful machinery for the lake screw propeller, the 
Emigrant. The company was capitalized at $100,000. B. B. Castle and 
J. F. Holloway were presidents of the company. 

The Lake Shore Foundry was established in 1850. It was first man¬ 
aged by Mr. Seizer and then by Silas Merchant, who was in charge until 
1874, when a joint stock company was formed to take over the property. 
Of this company O. M. Burke was president, A. M. Burke, vice president, 
and C. E. Burke, secretary. Its location was at the foot of Alabama (now 
East 26th) Street. They manufactured car, bridge and general castings. 
One of the leading lines was the manufacture of water and gas pipes. In 
the ’70s 160 men were employed, and they received an average wage of 
$10 per week. 

The Jewett & Goodman Organ Company was organized by Childs & 
Bishop in 1852. Childs & Bishop sold to Jewett & Goodman and then a 
joint stock company was formed. The location was first on Ontario Street 
and then at Rockwell and Bond (East Sixth). S. A. Jewett was president, 
C. D. Goodman, vice president, and F. C. Goff, secretary of the company. 
They manufactured reed organs and in the craze for antiques that has 
come with later years, all over the Western Reserve may be found in the 
homes these old organs made over into desks that are highly prized. 

We have related how the Jones in Newburgh started the iron business 
that grew into the rolling mill company. It was not until Henry Chisholm 
joined in the enterprise that it took on such great proportions. The Jones 
were Welshmen who understood the iron business, Chisholm was a car¬ 
penter, but with wonderful business capacity. Henry Chisholm came to 
America in 1842 a penniless youth, and attained the distinction of being 
one of the great manufacturers of any country. He was born in Lochgelly, 
Fifeshire, Scotland, April 27, 1822. His father died when he was ten 
years old and to help the family he left school two years later and appren¬ 
ticed himself to a carpenter in the City of Glasgow. After five years as 
an apprentice he started business for himself as a journeyman carpenter. 
He was then seventeen years old. The opportunities of the New World 
appealed to him and he sailed for America, locating first at Montreal, 
Canada, where he worked at his trade. He became a master carpenter 
and took contracts, continuing the same line after he came to Cleveland and 
until he joined with the Jones in the iron business. He had a younger 
brother, William Chisholm, who was a sailor for many years, but finally 
settled down as a contractor in Cleveland. It is interesting to note in dis¬ 
cussing the industrial growth of the city that many of the successful manu¬ 
facturers and large employers of labor came up from the ranks and did not 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


507 


s tart in an office with their feet under mahogany furniture with a “boiled 
shirt and a spotless collar. 

From 1857 to 1863 Chisholm, Jones & Company operated the Cleveland 
Rolling Mills in the manufacture of railway and bar iron. At the latter 
date a joint stock company took over the business under the same leader¬ 
ship, and the business grew until the works covered thirty acres of ground 
and the products included Bessemer steel, iron and steel rails and fasten- 
ings, spring steel and wire of all kinds, steel horse shoes, tires, axles and 
other forgings, boiler plate, galvanized and black sheet iron, corrugated 
roofing and siding and a multitude of miscellaneous articles. In the 70s 
this company was capitalized at $2,000,000, had a yearly payroll of over 
$2,000,000, an annual coal consumption of 250,000 tons, and used 150 teams 
besides locomotives and cars, all owned by the company and used in trans¬ 
porting their products. It produced 110,000 tons of steel and iron rails 
annually, 21,000 tone of wire, and of this amount 8,000 tons were of grain 
binding wire alone. It had its own mines in the Lake Superior region 
of Michigan, and Henry Chisholm, the sturdy Scotch boy, who left school 
to support his widowed mother in the days of adversity, was president of 
this great industry. The consolidation of this industry with the American 
Steel and Wire Company is a later history, but a part of Cleveland’s 
industrial upbuilding. 

The Cleveland Paper Company was organized in 1860. The original 
stockholders were M. C. Younglove, John Hoyt, Hiram Griswold, N. W. 
Taylor and George Worthington. It was capitalized at $100,000. This 
was later increased. This company manufactured all varieties of paper. 
The principal office was on St. Clair Street. It had branches at Broadway 
and Forest (East 37th) streets and in other cities. The officers in the 70s 
were N. W: Taylor, agent, S. W. Whittlesey, secretary and treasurer, E. 
Mills, superintendent (warehouse), J. W. Brightman, superintendent 
(mills). The present officers of the Cleveland Paper Manufacturing Com¬ 
pany are Francis W. Treadway, president, Harry W. Newcomer, vice 
president, and James D. Sackett, secretary and treasurer. 

The Novelty Iron Works began operation at Wason (East 38th) and 
Hamilton in 1860. Its building was 90 by 157 feet and Thomas R. Reeve 
was in charge as proprietor. It manufactured iron bridges, buildings, 
roofs, railroad frogs, and general machine work was turned out. In the 
’80s it employed 75 men, who received an average of $12 per week. This 
firm has gone out of business or been absorbed by others. 

The Standard Oil Company began operations in Cleveland in 1861 as 
a small co-partnership formed by John D. Rockefeller and Henry M. 
Flagler. In 1870 a stock company was formed. The first board of directors 
consisted of five men, John D. Rockefeller, Henry M. Flagler, Samuel M. 
Andrews, Stephen V. Harkness and William Rockefeller. It was capital¬ 
ized at $1,000,000. The works were located on Kingsbury Run. Ten years 
after it organized the officers were John D. Rockefeller, president, William 
Rockefeller, vice president, Henry M. Flagler, secretary, O. H Payne, 
treasurer, S. Andrews, superintendent, G. L. Vail, auditor, and L. H. 
Severance, cashier. It would require a volume in itself to follow out the 
activities of this great company that began its life in Cleveland in a small 
way but soon became nationally and internationally known, its head to 
become known as the richest of Americans, and perhaps the richest man in 
the world It has been said that with the possible exception of the iron 
industries the Standard Oil Company made larger additions to the wealth 
and growth of Cleveland than any other one branch of trade or manu- 

facture. & Morgan p a raffine Company was formed in 1863 by 


508 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Morehouse & Merriam. It was first called the Paraffine Oil and Wax 
Company. Two years later the company was styled the Morehouse & 
Merriam Company and in 1874 the corporate name was The Merriam & 
Morgan Paraffine Company. Its place of business was Central Way and 
Ohio Street (now Central Avenue). It was capitalized at $100,000. In 
the ’80s its officers were E. P. Morgan, president, J. B. Merriam, vice 
president, William Morgan, superintendent, Herman Frasch, chemist, and 
C. T. Carruth, secretary. 

In 1864 the Cleveland Foundry was opened on Winter Street by 
Bowler & Maher. In 1870 C. A. Brayton entered the firm and it was called 
Bowler, Maher & Brayton. This company employed 100 men in the manu¬ 
facture of car wheels and street railway goods, and equipment for rolling 
mills and blast furnaces. N. P. Bowler, Thomas Maher and C. A. Brayton 
constituted the firm. 

The same year another firm began operations at the corner of Elm and 
Main streets, known as Bourne & Knowles. Their product was hot and 
cold pressed nuts, washers, chain links and rivets. Mr. Damon entered 
the firm and its name was changed to Damon & Company and then to 
Bourne, Damon & Knowles. 

About this time the Union Steel Screw Company was organized with a 
capital of $1,000,000 by Amasa Stone, William Chisholm, Henry Chisholm, 
A. B. Stone and H. B. Payne. This great company manufactured only 
screws, but its market was the world, and it employed a large force of men. 
It ranked as one of the great industries of the city in the years following 
the Civil war. 

The Grasselli Chemical Company has a history dating back to 1839, 
when it commenced operations in Cincinnati. In 1866, with the entry of 
Cleveland into the list of manufacturing cities, it was moved there and has 
since been a leading firm of the city. During the World war it was much 
interested in supplying the country with dye stuffs that had previously been 
imported. The present officers are C. A. Grasselli, chairman of the board, 
Thomas S. Grasselli, president, Eugene R. Grasselli, first vice president and 
treasurer, Edward W. Furst and Albert C. Bailey, vice presidents, and 
Eugene R. Bailey, secretary. 

The Taylor & Boggis Foundry Company that began operations at Cen¬ 
tral Place in 1868 in the manufacture of wood patterns, foundry, machine 
and metal patterns; the Cleveland Spring Company, capitalized at $200,000, 
that located on West River and Winslow, making steel springs for locomo¬ 
tives, cars, carriages and wagons, were two important additions to the 
early manufacturing interests of Cleveland. The officers of the latter were 
E. H. Bourne, president, William H. Corlett, vice president, and H. W. 
Knowles, secretary. 

The following year the Cleveland Steam Gauge Company, with a 
capital of $50,000, was organized with D. W. Cross as president, J. P. Holt, 
in some capacity, W. S. Dodge, secretary and treasurer, and J. E. French, 
general manager. This company was organized to manufacture Holt’s 
patent steam gauges for locomotives and stationary engines, spring balances, 
water gauges, test pumps, syphons, brass cocks, air and vacuum gauges, 
and Emery’s universal cotton gin, and other similar products. The location 
was and has remained on Merwin Street. The city directory of 1906 gives 
the officers as L. D. Dodge, president and treasurer, W. S. Dodge, vice 
president, J. C. Gerstenecker, secretary. The office of the company is now 
at 1100 West Ninth Street. 

The White Manufacturing Company was organized in 1870 with 
a capital of $200,000. It was incorporated by Thomas H. White, Rollin 
C. White, George W. Baker, Henry W. White, and D’Arcy Porter for the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


509 


manufacture of sewing machines under a patent by Thomas White Later 
the name was changed to the White Sewing Machine Company. The 
location was Canal Street. This company has been a leading factor in the 
upbuilding of industrial Cleveland. It has taken up in later years automo¬ 
bile manufacture, but in 1880 it employed from 500 to 600 persons, paying 
an average salary of $75 per month. As an indication of the volume of 
business done, the company, in a period running from July in 1876 to the 
close of 1877 manufactured from 150 to 200 machines daily. The officers 
in that period were Thomas H. White, president, R. C. White, vice presi¬ 
dent, S. H. Henderson, secretary, H. W. White, treasurer, and D’Arcy 
Porter, superintendent. Later the officers included Thomas H. White, 
president, Windsor T. White, vice president, Walter C. White, second vice 
president, William Wayne Chase, secretary, F. M. Sanderson, treasurer, 
C. H. Porter, assistant treasurer, W. Grothe, superintendent of the sewing 
machine factory, and R. H. White, superintendent of the automobile 
factory. 

A year after this company started in business the King Iron Bridge and 
Manufacturing Company was formed, but the history of this industry dates 
back to 1858 when Zenas King, on a capital of $5,000, began building arch 
and swing bridges. When the stock company was formed the stockholders 
were Zenas King, Thomas A. Reeve, A. B. Stone. Charles A. Bernard, 
Charles A. Crumb, Dan P. Eells and Henry Chisholm. The works were on 
Wason and Hamilton streets. In 1880 the officers were Zenas King, presi¬ 
dent, James A. King, vice president, Harley B. Gibbs, secretary, and A. H. 
Porter, engineer. A history of this company and its activities up to the 
present time would include much of public improvement forwarded by the 
city and county, and its handiwork is seen all over the country. Its bridges 
replaced the wooden bridges of pioneer days. 

The Otis Iron and Steel Company, now called the Otis Steel Company, 
and one of the mammoth industries of Cleveland, began on a capital of 
$300,000 and located on Lake Avenue, the manufacture of iron and steel in 
all of its branches. It was formed by Charles A. Otis, W. S. C. Otis, E. B. 
Thomas, W. S. Streator and Dan P. Eells. In the ’80s the officers were 
Charles A. Otis, president, Joseph K. Bole, secretary, and S. T. Williams, 
superintendent. 

Three years after the Otis Iron and Steel Company was formed, that is, 
in 1876, the Warswick Manufacturing Company was added to the industrial 
plants of the city. It had a capital of $100,000 and engaged in the manu¬ 
facture of wrought iron pipe, iron fittings, brass goods for steam, oil and 
water use. It located at Center and Merwin streets. The officers in the 
’80s were J. R. Warswick, president, John A. Prindle, vice president, W. F. 
Brown, secretary, and John F. Taylor, treasurer. 

From this period, the close of the ’70s, when the city had a population of 
150,000, the multiplication of her industries began in earnest. It will be 
onlv within the province of this chapter to point out some of the more 
important, without attempting to even enumerate them all. It will be just 
a glimpse at industrial Cleveland. There is the Cleveland Tool and Supply 
Company, making machine tools, power transmissions, mill supplies and 
steel tubing; the A. Teachout Company, manufacturers of sash, doors, 
interior finish, etc.; the Glidden Varnish Company, producers of varnishes, 
enamels, stains and paint specialties; the Benjamin Moore & Company, 
making paints, varnishes and muresco; the Forbes Varnish Company, 
making a specialty of finishing varnish; the Great Lakes Refining Com- 
pany, oil compounders. The manufacturers of automobiles and especially 
automobile parts, in which the city leads, are numerous. There is the 
Peerless Motor Car Company; the White Company, of which we have 


510 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


spoken, manufacturing White cars and White trucks; the Grant Motor Car 
Company, making the “Grant Six”; the Chandler Motor Car Company, 
making the “Chandler Six”; the Steel Products Company, turning out 
automobile parts; the Parish & Bingham Company, making automobile 
frames; the Standard Parts Company, who manufacture automobile 
products and perfection springs; the K. D. Carburetor Company, making 
carburetors; the Otto Konigslaw Company, making automobile parts; the 
Eberhard Manufacturing Company, who manufacture carriage, saddlery 
and automobile hardware; the Hydraulic Pressed Steel Company, making 
automobile frames, stampings, concrete forms, pressed steel wheels, steel 
barrels and bicycle sprockets; the Guide Motor Lamp Company, making 
automobile lamps, the Interstate Foundry Company, making automobile and 
heavy castings; the Cleveland Worm and Gear Company, which makes 



Standard Oil Works in Cleveland 


worm gearing for automobiles and for general engineering purposes; the 
National Carbon Company, which manufactures electric carbons, dry ceils 
and automobile batteries, and the Theodore Kundtz Company, with two 
large plants, which manufacture church and auditorium furniture and 
automobile bodies. 

We should mention the Park Drop Forge Company, making crank 
shafts and heavy drop forging; the Cleveland Milling Machine Company, 
turning out milling machines, special tools, reamers, etc.; the Torbenson 
Axle Company, manufacturing axles for motor trucks ; the Hunt & Dormer 
Company, making metal stamping; the National Acme Company, turning 
out machines, taps and dies, and screw machinery products; the Cleveland 
Twiss Drill Company, making drills and reamers; the Foster Bolt and Nut 
Company, making bolts, nuts and rivets; the Lamson & Sessions Company, 
who manufacture bolts, nuts, rivets, wrenches, wire rope, clamps, etc.; the 
Osborne Manufacturing Company, making molding machines, accessories 
and foundry supplies; the Hill Clutch Company, turning out power trans¬ 
mitting equipment and elevating, conveying and cement machinery; C. E. 
Squires & Company, making, steam and gasoline traps, valves, pump 
governors, controllers, etc.; the. Globe Machine and Stamping Company^ 
making steel boxes, tumbling barrels, etc.retc.; the West Steel Castings 



THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


511 


Company, making small castings, truck wheels, anvils, lathe dogs; the Lucas 
Machine Tool Company, who specialize in drilling and milling machinery 
and forcing presses; the C. O. Bartlett & Snow Company, whose main 
line is mill machinery; the National Tool Company, making milling cutters 
and special tools; the National Screw and Tack Company; the Draper 
Manufacturing Company, making steel barrels; the Acme Manufacturing 
Company, making bolt, nut and forging machinery; the Champion Machine 
and Forging Company, making forgings; the Lake Erie Iron Company, 
making nuts, bolts, rods and railway material, which are leading firms in 
their various lines. 

There is the Ferro Machine and Foundry Company, making marine 
engines and gray iron castings; the Fanner Manufacturing Company, put¬ 
ting out a multitude of hardware specialties, including store trimmings, etc.; 
the V. D. Anderson Company, making steam specialties and oil machinery; 



A. W. Walworth 

the Walworth Run Foundry Company, who make castings, hot air regis¬ 
ters, furnace casing rings, etc.; the Cleveland Co-Operative Stove Com¬ 
pany, making stoves and castings; the Cleveland Heater Company; the 
Kelly Reamer Company, making boring tools and reamers; the Born Steel 
Range Company, making ranges and cooking appliances; the Bryant Heater 
and Manufacturing Company, making gas heaters; the Langenau Manu¬ 
facturing Company, making hardware specialties; the National Malleable 
Castings Company and the American Range and Foundry Company, mak¬ 
ing castings; the Wellman Seaver Morgan Company, a mammoth plant 
building ore and coal handling machinery, steel work equipment, cranes, 
turbines, hoisting and milling machinery, coke ovens, and gas producers 
machinery; the Brown Hoisting Machine Company, making ore and coal 
handling machinery, locomotive and other cranes, trolleys and giab buckets, 
the Browning Company, also making locomotive cranes and buckets; 
the Chandler Price Company, manufacturers of printing presses and paper 
cutters, and the Lakewood Engineering Company, making trucks, conveying 
machinery and cement handling equipment. . 

Covering other lines there is the Adams Bagnell Electric Company, 
making electric equipment, transformers, fans and automobi e electrical 
accessories; the Frantz Premier Company, making electric cleaners and 
washing machines ; the Reliance Electric and Engineering Company, making 


512 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


electric motors and generators; the National Carbon Company, making 
electric carbons, dry cells and automobile batteries; the Domestic Electric 
Company, making electrical equipment, and also twenty-five or more firms 
in addition making some form of electrical appliance. 

There is the National Telephone Supply Company, which manufactures 
equipment for the telephone companies; the Climax Cleaner Manufacturing 
Company, which manufactures solely wall paper cleaner; the F. Zimmerman 
Company, manufacturing picture frame mouldings; the Marble & Shattuck 
Chair Company, an offshoot of the Bedford factory of that name; the Greif 
Brothers Cooperage Company, making barrels and cooperage stock; the 
Adam Kroehle’s Sons Company, tanners and manufacturers of fine leather, 
including automobile leather; the Cleveland Window Glass and Door Com¬ 
pany and the Buckeye Fixture Company; the C. F. Narwola Company, 
the William M. Hardie Company, the Robert F. McKenzie Company and 
many others manufacturing candies; the Russ Company, making soda 
fountains and bar fixtures; the J. L. H. Stadler Rendering and Fertilizer 
Company, who manufacture fertilizer, and last but not least, one of the great 
firms of the United States, the Cleveland Ship Building Company. 

A great firm of the city is the American Multigraph Company, which 
manufactures multigraphs, printing and folding machines and multiple 
typewriters. There are the great clothing manufacturers of which the 
Joseph & Feiss Company and the Richmond Brothers Company are types. 
Of clothing manufacturers in the city, firms and individuals, there are 140. 
There are 30 rubber companies, 14 roofing manufacturers, 3 companies, 
not mentioned, manufacturing railway supplies, 23 soap manufacturers, 
besides the multitude in other lines that have not been mentioned, that make 
up the industrial life of the city in the manufacture of 15,000 different 
articles. 

The Cleveland Worsted Mills for the weaving of worsted cloth are 
justly famous and it has been said that enough cloth is woven in the city 
each year to make 2,000,000 suits. In this plant alone over 700 looms are 
in operation and over 2,000 people employed. In 1906 O. M. Stafford was 
president, Kayfman Hayes, vice president, Martin A. Marks, secretary and 
treasurer, and George H. Hodgson, general manager. 

The Warner & Swasey Company, engaged largely in the manufacture of 
astronomical instruments, opera glasses, etc., has a nation wide reputation. 
This company maintains an observatory at the Case School of Applied 
Science. It is favorably known from the philanthropy and public spirit of 
its founders as well as from its manufactured products. The plant is 
located on Carnegie Avenue. Ambrose Swasey is president of the com¬ 
pany, and Worcester R. Warner, vice president. Frank A. Scott was taken 
into the company after serving at Washington during the World war at 
the head of one of the war boards, and is also a vice president. The secre¬ 
tary is Leslie L. Stauffer, and the treasurer, Philip E. Bliss. 

The Cleveland Illuminating Company is one of the largest manufac¬ 
turers of electric current in the country and the largest in the state and must 
take its place among the industrial plants. Its competitor is the Municipal 
Lighting Plant of the city, which has been in operation for several years. 

But it is the great diversity of manufacture that stamps the industrial 
life of Cleveland as most interesting and it is this character that most con¬ 
tributes to the general growth of the city, to its steady and healthful 
advancement, undisturbed by so called booms: There are many large and 
interesting industrial plants in the city that deserve at least a mention that 
have not been enumerated by reason of the space allotted to this chapter. 

Partly commercial and partly industrial should be included the ice 
cream manufacturers, who also trade in milk and cream to some extent, of 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


513 


which there are in the city some fifteen. The most prominent are the 
Telling Belle Vernon Company, the J. W. Baker Ice Cream Company, the 
Tabor Ice Cream Company, and the Cleveland Ice Cream Company. There 
are fifteen ice manufacturers in the city, of which the City Ice and Fuel 
Company is the largest. This firm has fourteen ice stations in different 
parts of the city for the distribution of its manufactured product. 

Cleveland is not second in her beautiful cemeteries and there are twenty- 
two monumental works in the city, among them being that founded by Philip 
Binz at the entrance to Riverside Cemetery and the one founded by Joseph 
Carabelli at the entrance to Lake View. 



DAILY LINE OF OHIO CANAL PACKETS 



Between Cleveland Sc Portsmouth. 

DISTANCE 3 C 9 MILES—THROUGH IXT 80 EOTTB.S. 

A Picket of this Line leaves Cleveland erery day at 4 o’clock P. M. and Portsmouth every day 
at 9 o’clock A. M. 


T. INGRAHAM, Office foot of .Superior. street, Cleveland, 
>T!S & CURTIS , General Stage Office, do. 


> A<je*tj. 


OTIS «, --: 

G. i. LEBT,. Portsmouth, 

SEit, MOORE C CO.’S Hoe of States leawsClevdaod daily for Cntomb,-*, *.« Wooater and Hrbrwv 
OTIS V CURTIS’ Lina of Sugea leave* Cleveland daily tbr Pittsburgh, BvflWo, Detroit and WcHstiIK. 



PIONEER FAST STAGE LINE 



From OIXTCMNS to PZTTSBUBCI, 

Leaved daily at 8 o’clock A. M., via Bedford, Hudson, Kxt. 
venna, Deerfield, Salem and Hew Lisbon, to Welljvitte, 
where they wiO take the 






WELLSVILLE AND NEW LISBON, 

TO PITTSBURG. 

Through in 30 hoar* front Cleveland, 

Being the shortest route between the two cities, and afford- 
<ng a pleasant trip through a flourishing part of Ohio, on a 
good road, and in better Coaches than any lino naming to 
«aid place. 

The above line is connected wifh the 

Good Intent Fast Mail Stage, 

' ASD 

Pioneer Packet Sc Rail-Rontl Linen, 

For Philadelphia, Nev.York, Baltimore and Washington 
City, in which passengers travelling intho above line havo 
the preference. 

Orricnin Mr. Kellogg’s now building, opposite the 
Franklin-House, No. 36 Superior-street, under the Amen, 
cm House. 

J, R. CUNNINGHAM, Agent, 
Cleveland, July, 1837. 


ELMC*. A. wiflHr. 



' 


Civil, 




































































































CHAPTER XXXV 


COMMERCIAL CLEVELAND 

“The continual effort to raise himself above 
himself, to work a pitch above his last height, 
betrays itself in man’s relations.’’ 

—Emerson. 


Under this head will be included transportation, water, air, interstate 
urban and interurban, and trade and utilities. As early as 1679 the first 
sailing vessel, the Griffin, breasted the waves of Lake Erie. There was no 
Cleveland at this time to invite a call from this commercial agent. Then 
100 years later and more (in 1786), an Englishman had a trading station 
at the mouth of the Cuyahoga. After the founding of the city by Moses 
Cleveland there were some calls on the port by lake vessels, but the lack 
of harbor facilities made the attempts of very little consequence. Inland 
water transportation began with the building of the Ohio Canal, and lake 
commerce with the improved harbor facilities. 

In 1851 the opening of the railroad to Cincinnati was celebrated and 
transportation facilities were greatly increased. Then came the Lake Shore 
Railway, the Baltimore & Ohio, the Erie, the Nickel Plate, the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Lines, their efficiency made constantly greater by extensions, con¬ 
solidations, and connections, until from the ox teams of the pioneers, and 
the canoes of the Indians, we had advanced to a great system of lines con¬ 
necting Cleveland with the outside world, with hundreds of trains thunder¬ 
ing daily in and out and through the city, carrying its products to the ends 
of the earth. 

It will be impossible within the limits of this chapter to trace in detail 
this development. A great addition to the facilities for handling freight 
was made when the Belt Line Railroad around the city was constructed. 
This is a part of the New York Central System, the successor of the Lake 
Shore and other lines, and was promoted and carried through by William 
R. Hopkins, the present city manager of Cleveland. Another similar 
railroad is the Newburgh & South Shore, which performs the same service 
for the lines handling the products of the various plants of the American 
Steel and Wire Company. 

When the Union Passenger Station on the lake front was constructed 
it was the pride of the city, but it has long been outgrown and there is now 
under way the building of a new one at the Public Square estimated to 
cost some $60,000,000. In this project all the railroads entering the city 
except the Pennsylvania Lines have joined. A new union passenger sta¬ 
tion had been considered for many years, but to be constructed on the lake 
front. To O. P. and M. J. Van Sweringen is given the credit for originat¬ 
ing and carrying forward the Public Square project. Interested in the 
subject of rapid transit for Cleveland they first bought a large tract of land 
north of Shaker Lakes. This they sold and bought another south of the 
lakes, developing Shaker Heights Village. They built rapid transit lines 
to the city through Kingsbury Run. In this work the difference between 
the level of the run and the city came up for solution and the idea of enter- 

515 


Vol. 1-17 


516 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


ing the city on the lower level was born, and from this was developed the 
station on the Square as a project that was conceived by men of vision as 
a natural evolution. They secured property near the proposed site of the 
station and built Hotel Cleveland, an up to date hotel with a thousand 
rooms, as the first building of the terminal group, bought the Nickel Plate 
Railway, and the project was launched. 

Today the steam shovels are busy, buildings are being razed and the 
work of the great project of a depot at the Public Square is progressing 
rapidly. This condition has not been brought about without opposi¬ 
tion. Interests favoring the lake front site have been active in and out 
of season. It is a matter of history that the New York Central Railway, 
the Big Four, and the Pennsylvania Company had agreed upon building 
a union station on the lake front. Then came the World war, and the 
United States control of the railroads. For six years previous, men of 
prominence in the city had been pointing to the Public Square as the logical 
place for the union passenger station. Regional Director A. H. Smith 
asked for an opportunity to study plans providing for centering all lines 
in a depot at the Square. Engineers worked them out and an ordinance 
was prepared to be voted upon by the people January 6, 1919. The ordi¬ 
nance was submitted to a vote of the people and a majority in favor of the 
project was the result. 

As a matter of fact, the interest of the regional director was centered 
in freight relief, which was one of the problems of the war period, and 
that led to his interest in the proposed passenger station. High level freight 
yards were secured at Orange and Broadway avenues, and new freight 
houses constructed. It has been suggested that these will be doubled under 
the new plan. The general plan of the station project is to turn all pas¬ 
senger trains up Walworth Run, Kingsbury Run, and the Cuyahoga Val¬ 
ley to the center of the city’s life. 

Among the advantages pointed out are that this will give through ways 
for passenger traffic and free the industrial areas of the city from the in¬ 
terruption of passenger trains, that it will leave the lake front freer for lake 
shipping, and take the interurban lines from the surface in the downtown 
sections of the city. It is pointed out that the lines entering the station will 
be electrified within the city limits. In this project the Pennsylvania Com¬ 
pany has not joined, occupying the same position as they do in connection 
with the Grand Central Station, New York. 

The history of this great project dates from an act passed in the Legis¬ 
lature of Ohio in 1915 permitting electric and steam railroads to combine 
in erecting a subway station. The bill was introduced by Senator Meyers. 
Previous to this under Mayor Baker some action was taken. Then Mayor 
Baker in 1915, after the passage of the act referred to, submitted terms 
agreed upon with the Union Terminals Company acting for the railroads 
and these were ratified by the city council in 1915/ The plans call for seven 
tracks from the east in a cut forty feet below the level of Broadway. The 
Union Terminals Company has acquired all the land between Ontario 
Street, Prospect Avenue, West Third Street, and Canal Road. Three im¬ 
portant properties of the city are included, the fire house on Champlain, 
the fire house on Hill, and the police station on Champlain Avenue. Nego^ 
tiations by City Manager Hopkins were entered into by which the city 
receives $1,700,000 for its property referred to. 

In referring to the opposition to this project it should be stated that in 
1921 the Interstate Commerce Commission reported adversely on the 
proposition, but it was reopened and approved. 

This depot undertaking contemplates the building of street railway 
stations under the Square operating in subways for some distance out 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


517 


This takes us to the street railway question which is an important factor 
in the growth and development of the city. The first street railway man 
in the city was Henry S. Stevens. In 1859 he organized the East Cleveland 
btieet Railway Company. A line was built from Bank (now West Sixth) 
Street to Willson Avenue (East Fifty-fifth Street). Lake View Cemetery 
was opened and the line was extended to that point. In 1868 this company 
ian a line on Garden and Ohio streets. In the ’70s it was capitalized at 
$300,000, had fourteen miles of track and A. Everett was president, Henrv 
A. Everett, secretary, and T. F. Frobisher, superintendent. 

In the same year Henry S. Stevens and E. E. Williams organized the 
Kinsman Street Railway Company and a road was built from Bank Street 
to the Cleveland & Pittsburgh Railway on Kinsman Street. The company 
began with a capital of $30,000. This was increased to $500,000. It had 
three and a half miles of trackage, all except one mile being double track. 
This road went into the hands of a receiver in 1876. The West Side Street 



Forest City House 


Railway Company was organized in 1863 with a capital of $80,000. D. P. 
Rhodes was the first president. In 1864 it opened a line over Detroit 
Street to the terminus of Bridge. In 1879 Elias Sims was president and 
it was operating a line over Pearl and Fulton to Lorain Street. 

The St. Clair Street Railway Company or the Superior Street Railway 
Company was organized in 1867. It built a double track road from Water 
(West Ninth) Street to Willson (East Fifty-fifth) Street, a distance of 
three miles. G. B. Bowers was president and superintendent and W. A. 
Dutton secretary and treasurer in the ’80s. We have referred to the Rocky 
River Railroad, a steam line running to Rocky River, of which enterprise 
Elias Sims was the promoter and president of the operating company. 

The rolling mills out in Newburg employed a great many men and its 
population was increasing and in 1873 the Broadway & Newburg Street 
Railway Company was organized with a capital of $200,000. A double 
track road was opened on Christmas day of that year. Six years later the 
company was operating nineteen cars and had eighty-six horses in use. 
Joseph Stanley was president and superintendent and the trustees were 
Joseph Stanley, Samuel Andrews, Charles Hathaway, J. W. Sykora, 
E Grasselli, E. Fowler and William Meyer. In 1874 the South Side Rail¬ 
way Company was organized and it ran lines from Superior and Seneca 
to fennings and Professor streets. The president was Alfred Kellogg and 
the superintendent A. M. Emerson. The Woodland Hills Railroad, a single 











518 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


track line, was built from Willson out Woodland by John Rock. I his was 
in 1874, the road was a mile and a half in length. The Superior Street 
Railway Company was formed in 1875 and it built a double track road to 
Giddings Avenue, a distance of two and a half miles. Ihe first president 
was J. H. Hardy. Five years later Charles Hathaway was president, J. W. 
Carson, treasurer and A. Bartlett, superintendent. This road connected 
at Giddings with a steam line to Euclid, built by the Lake View, Collamer & 
Euclid Railway Company. 

Thus we have outlined the beginning of the Cleveland Street railways, 
the original traffic arrangements to meet the needs of the city on its upward 
path, the old horse cars, the unheated cars, the driver with his heavy mit¬ 
tens in zero weather exposed to every storm that blew, the slow schedule, 
the wait at the foot of heavy grades for an extra horse, and yet a necessity 
and a great factor in the development of the city. 

Consolidations came with larger volume of traffic and in time the lines 
east of the river were united as the Big Consolidated, with Henry Everett 
at its head, and the lines west of the river as the Little Consolidated, with 
Mark Hanna in command. In the meantime Tom Johnson and his brother 
A1 had been interested in the Cleveland Street railways, had brought about 
many reforms in management and then transferred their interests. Elec¬ 
tric power was substituted for the horse and the trolley for the whiffietree. 
Still more efficiency came with the consolidation of all the lines, but the 
franchises were dependent upon the city council and the street railways 
were in politics, the car riders interested in low fares as well as good service 
must be reckoned with. 

Tom Johnson made Cleveland his home, was elected mayor, advocating 
three-cent fare. The people knowing him as a street railway man, believed 
this low fare possible and he was reelected repeatedly on the leading issue 
of three-cent fare. When he was elected all the lines were controlled by 
the Cleveland Electric Railway Company. But this company had their 
franchises and the mayor began the project of building a three-cent fare 
line. A company was formed called the Forest City Railway Company. 
In May, 1903, the city council passed an ordinance permitting this com¬ 
pany to build a line on Fulton Road and Dennison Avenue. 

In the face of numerous delays by reason of court orders the project 
was hampered, but on November 1, 1906, the line was opened and the first 
three-cent cars were operated. To show the intensity of the struggle, this 
new line could operate only to the east end of the viaduct, the viaduct being 
free territory. All that stopped the new line from getting to the Public 
Square was the strip from the viaduct. That strip had been free territory, 
but was tied up by injunction. On December, 1906, late in the night 
Mayor Johnson, for the low fare company, got authority from the board 
of public service to build tracks on this strip. At midnight the tracks were 
laid on the pavement. Barrels full of cinders were placed along the tracks 
and trolley poles with scantling for arms were placed in the barrels and 
these were nailed to loaded wagons to keep them in place. The next morn¬ 
ing the cars went to the Square. On April 28, 1908, there was three-cent 
fare on all the lines in the city. 

Not to follow all of the intervening history—by the failure of the city 
council to renew the franchises—all the lines in the city were placed in the 
hands of a receiver, appointed by the United States District Court. Then 
under a new franchise drafted by Judge Robert W. Taylor, of that court, 
the street railroads of the city were placed on their present footing, being 
operated by the company and the city in joint control. This was brought 
about March 1, 1910. The rate of fare is fixed on a sliding scale depend- 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


519 


ing upon the earnings of the company. This ordinance also provides for 
the purchase of the lines by the city under certain conditions. 

The street railways of the city carry more than a million “fares” daily 
and on account of the crowded condition of the streets there are 15,000 
collisions annually. About one million and a half of dollars is paid out an¬ 
nually in the settlement of damage suits. The present rate of fare is six 
cents for single fare, but nine tickets are sold for fifty cents, and one cent 
is charged for a transfer. As we write negotiations are on foot between the 
employes, who are demanding increased wages, and the company, and if 
the increase is granted a higher rate of fare may be the result. 

There are five electric lines entering the city, the Cleveland & Eastern 
Traction Company, running east, the Cleveland Southwestern & Columbus 



“Walk-in-the-Water” 


Railway, the Lake Shore Electric Railway running to Detroit, and the 
Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company, operating what was originally 
the Akron Bedford & Cleveland Railway, and the Chagrin Falls Railway. 
In competition with the passenger traffic of these lines are numerous bus 
lines that have been operated since the advent of better county and state 

03 Thus the traffic accommodations have kept pace with the growth of 
the city. The Ohio Canal that was in the early days a great boon to the 
little settlement at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, in 1850, be s>des 'ts pas¬ 
senger traffic, carried eighty different varieties of freight. Ini 1839 nearly 
20,000 people came to Cleveland by canal. This passenger traffic continued 
for many years. By 1905 the freight traffic was confined to hay, stone, 
lumber and coal. All this now is but a memory. . , . • r 

In Mr Orth’s history of Cleveland is a very minute description of 

5&SSS EKr. 













520 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


This was the first vessel built in the city. In 1809 Joel Thorp built the 
small schooner Sally. The next year Murray and Butler built the Ohio 
of sixty tons, and in 1814 another schooner, Sally, of twenty-five tons. In 
1813 Levi Johnson built the Pilot, of thirty-five tons, manned by Capt. John 
Austen, and two years later the Neptune of sixty-five tons. In 1821 the 
Prudence was built by Philo Taylor and the next year the Minerva, of 
forty-four tons, by Noble H. Merwin. Now commenced the building of 
larger vessels. In 1826 John Blair built the Macedonia of sixty tons, the 
Lake Serpent of forty tons, and the Comet of fifty tons. 

But the lack of harbor facilities made the navigation of the lakes dan¬ 
gerous, as well as the shallowness of Lake Erie with its violent storms and 
in 1841 there were only nineteen sailing vessels on Lake Erie and but two 
of them were built in Cleveland. 

Just what was the freight cargoes in those days may be of interest. In 
1830 the schooner Detroit cleared from Cleveland with ninety-one barrels 
of flour, 101 barrels of whiskey, sixty-three barrels of pork, fifty-one bar¬ 
rels of dried fruit, twenty-four barrels of cider, and sixteen barrels of beef. 

With the coming of steamboats vessels of larger tonnage were con¬ 
structed. It was in 1807 that Fulton’s Clermont made a trip on the Hud¬ 
son. Two years later a steamboat sailed the St. Lawrence, two years after 
that the Mississippi. In 1816 the Walk in the Water, of 342 tons, built 
•near Buffalo, was launched on Lake Erie. In 1818 the Walk in the Water 
came to Cleveland, stopping for a while off the mouth of the Cuyahoga 
before going on to Detroit. Three years later it was wrecked off Buffalo 
Creek. The second steamer on Lake Erie was built at Buffalo. In 1831, 
having served its time, it was sent over Niagara Falls as a spectacle. The 
Erie Canal was opened in 1826 and the Welland three years later. The 
early carrying trade on the lakes, both passenger and freight, was very 
profitable. Steamboats were built without much knowledge of their con¬ 
struction and manned by men without experience, but all in the mad haste 
to make money. The Madison, built at Erie, was said to have earned her 
entire cost in one season. The casualties were very large. 

In 1831 the William Peacock burst her boilers, scalding to death seven¬ 
teen persons, and the same year the Washington was wrecked. Seven years 
later another steamer of the same name was burned with loss of many lives. 
In 1841 the Erie was burned and 300 people perished. In 1850 the G. P. 
Griffith was burned with another sacrifice of lives. In 1854 the E. K. Col¬ 
lins was burned, the Garden City wrecked, and the Peninsula lost in a 
storm. In 1855 the Baltimore was wrecked. In 1860 the Gazelle and 
Arctic were wrecked and the Lady Elgin burned, with great loss of life. 
In 1862 the North Star was burned off Cleveland. In 1863 the Queen of 
the Lake was burned, the Sunbeam wrecked, and the Pewabie sunk. In 
1866 the Traveler was burned and the Cleveland wrecked. In 1868 the 
Courtland, the R. N. Rice, the Atlantic, the Caspian, the Northerner were 
sunk and the Ironsides, the Sea Bird, and the City of Toledo were burned 
on the lakes. The R. G. Coburn also went down that year in a storm. 
Practically all of these steamboats were side wheelers. The large side 
wheelers began to be used as early as 1844. 

The Cleveland that we have mentioned as being wrecked was 190 feet 
long, had 132 berths and carried the first steam whistle used on the lakes. 
Before that time bells and guns were used. The Empire, built in Cleve¬ 
land in 1844, was of 1,136 tons burden. It was the first steamer built 
in the United States of over 1,000 tons burden, and 200 tons larger than 
any other steamship in the world. It made fast time and sailed from 
Detroit to Buffalo in twenty-four hours. It was built by G. W. Jones 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 521 


and D. N. Barner and Company of Cleveland and was commanded by 
Captain Howe. 

Ten years later still larger steamboats were built but the many dis¬ 
asters and the competition of the railroads cut down the passenger traffic, 
but the freight traffic increased. In 1841 the first screw propeller was 
built at Oswego, New York. The first one of that type built in Cleveland 
was the Emigrant. These became the favorite until 1882 when the iron 
propellors came into use. These iron freight propellors have been great 
agents in the iron ore traffic. These great vessels carrying enormous car¬ 
goes of ore, together with ore unloading machines that are capable of un¬ 
loading 6,000 tons and more daily, have been great agents in building up 
the commerce of Cleveland necessary to its industrial growth. 

The men engaged in the lake traffic following the advent of the rail¬ 
roads combined in various transportation companies for the more sys¬ 
tematic conduct of the business. Among prominent vessel men of Cleve¬ 
land may be mentioned Capt. John W. Moore, Capt. Thomas Wilson, 
Capt. William S. Mack, Capt. Phillip Minch, Capt. Henry Johnson, the 
vessel broker, W. J. Webb, and the marine surveyor, Capt. C. E. Benham. 
Captain Benham has served in various capacities connected with the ship¬ 
ping in the port of Cleveland and takes a great deal of interest in river and 
harbor improvement. 

The air service that came into so much prominence during the World 
war is now taking on a commercial phase and seems destined to become a 
part of our commercial life. Cleveland is a logical aviation center. Start¬ 
ing with the mail service it is drifting into commercial lines. For over two 
years there has been maintained direct air mail service from New York to 
San Francisco. Last season passenger service between Cleveland and De¬ 
troit was maintained. Daily service will soon be renewed. Train time is 
from five to five and a half hours, while the time by plane is ninety minutes. 
Over 500 flights have been made over Lake Erie. Over 26,000 passengers 
have been carried a total of 1,000,000 miles with only one serious accident. 

The Glen L. Martin airplane factory, located in Cleveland, has built 
here 100 planes. The first one was built in 1918. It now has contracts 
aggregating a million dollars. The lessening demand for Government work 
has turned the attention to the question of commercial aviation. The de¬ 
mand must precede the establishment of factories. It is said that this coun¬ 
try is especially adapted for air navigation. The International Airways 
Companv has been organized in Cleveland. It is incorporated for $1,000,- 
000 and Maj. L. B. Lent is the president. The offices are in the Cleveland 


Discount Building. ... . A 

It is said that the demand for fast transportation is increasing. Among 
other items connected with the service as contemplated, the Cleveland banks 
send two and one-half millions of dollars daily for clearance in New York, 
that arrives too late for clearance the following morning, resulting in an 
annual loss of from $40,000 to $50,000. Some put the loss at $1,200 per 
day, that could be saved by this faster service. There are other consider¬ 
ations that enter into the problem. , 

What grew into a great public utility was that of supplying gas to the 
citv It replaced the candle and the oil lamp in the home. Streets were 
first lighted with lard oil lamps. In 1849 the first gas was furnished m 
Cleveland Its use grew with the years, but at first it was used only or 
lighting. Then came the gas stove and its use became common in he 
kftchen Until the advent of natural gas, however it was little used foi 
heating purposes. The Cleveland Gas Light and Coke Company and the 
Peopled Gas Light Companv supplied the city for many years It was 
during the administration of Tom L. Johnson as mayor that the East Ohio 


522 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Gas Company laid its pipes to the city in competition with the artificial gas 
companies and the passing of the ordinance fixing the rate to be charged 
was accompanied by a dramatic scene in the city council. The natural gas 
brought from the West Virginia fields could be furnished cheaper than 
gas could be manufactured, it was thought, and the question of rate was 
before the council. A councilman claimed to have been offered a bribe and 
in a dramatical manner carried the money to the desk of the presiding 
officer. This carried over a few votes that were needed and the ordinance 
was passed. An arrest was made, but the one charged with bribery was 
never prosecuted. 

In time the East Ohio absorbed the other companies, the Peoples Gas 
Light Company, which was furnishing gas to the west side, and the Cleve¬ 
land Gas Light and Coke Company, which was furnishing gas to the east 
side, and this company is now the sole one with which the city has to deal 
in the matter of its gas supply. 

The city directory of 1848 says that “Cleveland is now the Emporium 
of Northern Ohio and is next in importance to Cincinnati.” It had at 
that time three wards. Lorenzo A. Kelsey was mayor, M. M. Spangler, 
treasurer, S. A. Abbey, marshal, and Jabez Fitch, attorney. This latter 
office is now called that of law director. J. K. Elwell was harbormaster, 
J. A. Craw, city sexton, O. F. Welsh, market clerk, John M. Bailey, sealer 
of weights and measures, and there was a city officer called the weigher of 
hay. A. S. Sanford was chief of the fire department, Smith Inglehart was 
collector of the port, and Louis Dibble keeper of the lighthouse. 

There were four military companies in the city, the Ringgolders, an 
artillery company commanded by Gen. A. S. Sanford, the German City 
Guards, commanded by Capt. Frederick Silberg, the German Yagers, com¬ 
manded by Capt. A. Seywert, and the Hibernian Guards, commanded by 
Capt. P. A. McBarron. This was supposed to protect the commercial 
interests of the Cleveland port. An aid to commerce was the telegraph. 
The Atlantic Lake and Mississippi Telegraph Company had an office in 
operation, with E. B. Ely as secretary. The Weddell House, the Cleve¬ 
land Hotel opposite, the New England Hotel on Merwin Street, Farmers’ 
Hotel or exchange, the United States Hotel, the Mansion House kept by 
Stephens and Young, on Water Street, the Napoleon Hotel at Water and 
St. Clair, the American House, and the City Hotel on Seneca were running. 
The rates of the latter are published at seventy-five cents per day. The 
term “Tavern” had been discarded as the city had now a population of 
nearly 20,000, including Ohio City. N. E. Crittenden was operating a 
jewelry store. The lawyers had increased faster than the doctors for there 
were seventy of the former and only twenty doctors. There were no 
garages, but a number of livery stables, no photograph galleries, but several 
Daguerreotype galleries, twenty dry goods merchants, five hardware mer¬ 
chants, seven druggists, five jewelers (we have mentioned Crittenden), and 
nineteen clothing stores. James F. Ryder’s Daguerreotype gallery was the 
oldest in the city. 

In the ’50s E. I. Baldwin and Company were leading dry goods mer¬ 
chants on Superior and Luetkemeyer and Schmidthusen in hardware. The 
Cleveland, Columbus & Cincinnati Railroad and the Cleveland, Painesville & 
Ashtabula were each running three trains daily out of Cleveland. Taylor 
Griswold and Company were dry goods merchants on Superior and the 
Angier House at the corner of Bank and St. Clair were entertaining travel¬ 
ers. Horace Waters had added pianos to his stock of melodians. Saloons 
had increased more rapidly than any other line of business and there were 
125 in the city. This was due no doubt to the breweries that were making 
a beer or present use ale that had a large sale. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


523 


The Cleveland Grays were organized and commanded by Capt. T. S. 
Paddock, and the Washington Guards, commanded by Capt. Tobias Oss- 
man. The Cleveland Light Dragoons were commanded by Capt. L. Hack- 
man. 

The most we can do in discussing the intervening history up to the 
present time during which the city has grown to hold a commanding place 
among the cities of the United States is to touch here and there, mention¬ 
ing some of the leading firms that have their place in the commercial life 
of the city but, no doubt, omitting many that deserve notice—and the hotels. 
The Hollenden on Superior, the Cleveland on the Public Square, the 
Statler and Colonial on Euclid, the Winton on Prospect, the American 
House, on Superior, with its long history, the Hotel Euclid, the Olmsted 
on Superior, the Kennard House, with its long history like the American, 
and the Hawley on West Third Street, and the Murphy on East Ninth 
Street are some of the down town hotels that deserve mention. The Doan- 
brook, the Sovereign, Fenway Hall, Clifton Manor and others outside of 
the congested district add to the number. There are in all 120. 

The leading department stores in the city are the May Company and 
the Bailey Company. As indicating the volume of trade, by a count made 
on one shopping day, 40,000 shoppers entered the former, a fair record 
for one day. 

Among the leading dry goods stores of the city are the William Taylor 
Son and Company’s, the Halle Brothers Company’s, the Higbee Company’s, 
the Lindner Company’s and on the west side, the Friese and Schuele Com¬ 
pany’s and the John Meckes Sons Company’s. The leaders in the china 
and glassware lines are Kinney and Levan, C. A. Selzer and George H. 
Bowman. In hardware the William Bingham Company, the George 
Worthington and the Cleveland Hardware Company are some of the large 
firms. The Sterling and Welch Company are now second in the large line 
of carpet and rug stores. Among the hundreds of groceries we can with 
safety point to Chandler and Rudd and William P. Southworth and Com¬ 
pany as downtown leaders, in the retail business, and William Edwards and 
Company, the Haserot Company, the Higgins-Babcock Company, the 
Weideman Company, and the Fisher Brothers Company in the wholesale 
line, the latter having the distinction of successfully operating the largest 
number of retail stores of any firm in the city. They have nearly 150 stores. 
The next firm in point of numbers is the Mathew Smith Tea, Coffee and 
Groceries Company, which has sixty-eight stores. 

It is more difficult to select any outstanding firms in the furniture line, 
for out of the 150 and more engaged in the business many handle other 
goods becoming prominent in several ways and almost entering the class 
of department stores. The lumber trade has been large in the city. Back 
in the ’60s 15,000,000 feet of lumber were received at the Port of Cleve¬ 
land in a single year. There are 150 firms in the city engaged in the lum¬ 
ber business. ... * , , 

Engaged in the coal and ore and shipping trade are some of the largest 

and most influential companies in the city. M. A Hanna and Company 
takes high rank and is one of the long established firms. The prominence 
of Senator Hanna in public life, his established fame and enduring place 
in American History, has brought the great firm he established into more 
than business prominence. There are many others of almost equal promi- 

nenC In the various lines of commercial endeavor in the city there has been 
continuous growth with the advance of the city save two, the brewing in¬ 
dustry, which belongs to the industrial chapter and the saloons which 
belong to this. Before the passage of the prohibition amendment there 


524 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


were nearly 3,000 saloons in the City of Cleveland. Today there are only 
117 and ninety that are designated as cafes. 

The enforcement of the prohibition amendment to the constitution of 
the United States has brought many cases into the courts, but in all of 
its difficulties it is safe to say that Cleveland, with its cosmopolitan popu¬ 
lation, has not been second among the large cities of the country. 

One thing observable in the trade of the city is the localizing in later 
years. Instead of one center of trade we now have many and as the city 
enlarges its borders these centers of trade increase and the lines of business 
are multiplied. 


CHAPTER XXXVI 


THE FRATERNAL, PATRIOTIC AND LABOR ORGANIZA¬ 
TIONS, CLUBS, BENEVOLENT AND CIVIC 
SOCIETIES AND INSTITUTIONS 


The pioneers had their Town Meeting, which included in its member¬ 
ship the whole community, and which afforded neighborly fraternity, and 
embraced the general discussion of all matters connected with the public 
weal. As the communities grew in numbers these meetings became 
unwieldy, and congenial elements joined together in fraternal orders of 
various kinds, wars came and the survivors kept alive the friendships 
formed by common dangers and common hardships, and the patriotic sen¬ 
timent, by uniting in organizations, more attention was necessary to be 
given to public affairs, as problems multiplied, and civic societies came 
into being, and employment, as factories and shops grew in magnitude and 
capital united, came to involve large groups of men, who united in organ¬ 
izations for mutual advantage. 

The Free Masons were the first of the fraternal orders to organize in 
Cleveland. When Cleveland had only twelve families, before it had a 
schoolhouse or a church, Concord Lodge No. 15 was organized, August 
11, 1811. The dispensation came from Lewis Cass, grand master of Ohio, 
and the officers were installed by Governor Samuel Huntington, at that 
time deputy grand master. Their first meetings were held in Harvey 
Murray’s new store, which was located on Superior Street. This store 
was on the south side of Superior at a point about half way between West 
Third Street and West Sixth as these streets are now called. From an 
interesting history of “Old Fifteen” by Clarence W. Fitch we have taken 
the early meeting places in their order: Harvey Murray’s store, the 
George Wallace Tavern, Merwin’s Hall, Belden’s Tavern, Major Carter’s 
Tavern, Abner Richmond’s house, Dr. S. Howe’s house, the courthouse, 
Pliney Mowrev’s house, A. Kingsbury s house, Welch s Hall, McIntosh s 
Hall Ebersole’s Hall, the Academy, T. Scovill’s house, the Masonic Hall, 
Ebie Building (1841), Farmers’ Block, Merchants’ Exchange, Forest City 
Block (1852), Case Block (1866), and Masonic Temple (October, 1866), 

located at Superior and East Sixth. 

The charter members of this first lodge were Abraham Bishop, Samuel 
S. Baldwin, Harvey Murray, Robert Fulton, Abner Young, William Cole¬ 
man, Melzer Clark, Harmon Bronson, John Clark Philemon Baldwin, 
Moses Eldred, James Baldwin, and Seth Payne. Dr David Long was 
master of the lodge in 1816, Peter M. Weddell in 1827, and Richard 
Angell in 1828. Jabez Gallup was master in 1829 but owing to the anti- 
Masonic excitement caused by the Morgan affair, which isia part of gen¬ 
eral and not local history, the lodge ceased to function in October of that 
Tar and the charter was declared forfeited. In 184 an appl.cat.on for a 
renewal of the charter was presented to the Grand Lodge and gianted 
undeTthe new name of Cleveland City Lodge, but retaining the ongina 
number fifteen Thus the present Cleveland City Lodge is the lineal 
"he firs. w/» theei.y. The charter men,!*,, o 
lodge included nine who were members of Concord No. 15. this lodge 



526 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


included in its membership many of the prominent citizens of the Village 
of Cleveland. Governor Reuben Wood, Levi Johnson, Judge James 
Kingsbury, Joel Scranton, and others being affiliated with it. Gen. H. H. 
Dodge, Mayor Stephen Buhrer, Charles A. Woodward, George H. Adams, 
Mayor William G. Rose, and Harry Wilkinson are some of the officials of 
Cleveland City Lodge, its successor, who were identified with it in the 
early days. From the early minutes are these items : “January 28th, 1828, 
Brother Gallup was appointed to furnish the lodge with wood and can¬ 
dles.” “October 18th, 1842, voted that a committee of two be appointed 
to change the present stove, which burns wood, for a stove that will burn 
coal.” 

Cleveland City Lodge No. 15, Free and Accepted Masons, first met in 
1841, and the first officers were Clifford Belden, Andrew White, Willard 
Crawford, Edmund Clark and Erastus Smith. Iris Lodge No. 229 was 
organized in 1852 with A. D. Bigelow, W. H. Beaumont and Robert 
Reiley as officers. In the beginning of the ’80s this was the largest 
Masonic lodge in the state, having over 300 members. Bigelow No. 243 
was organized the next year with Gaston G. Allen, Samuel W. Odell, 
Alonzo Eldridge and C. C. Stevens as officers. F. W. Pelton and Robert 
Simpson later served as officers. Concordia No. 345 was not organized 
until ten years after Bigelow. Its first officers were Joseph Singer, C. A. 
Muerman, William Schmidt, A. Eckerman, E. Hessenmueller, William 
Burger and Charles Mueller. George A. Schlatterbeck was an officer of 
this lodge in the 70s. 

Tyrian No. 370 was organized in 1866, and the charter members were 
E. A. Hopkins, G. N. Crittenden, George H. Vilas, Eli Ely, M. L. Rider, 
J. B. Parsons, Beorhe L. Childs, D. E. Wright and W. H. Huntington. 
Newburgh lodge was organized the same year with W. R. Seager, H. Tone, 
J. H. Brown and M. R. Hughes among the charter members. At the 
close of the 70s this was a flourishing lodge of 120 members, and the 
officers were M. I. Richards, F. W. Cochran, W. A. Affleck, J. B. Corlett, 
A. D. Kent, A. Barber, F. K. Reede and John Nesbit. In 1867 the Forest 
City lodge was organized on the West Side. Up to this time Bigelow 
was the only lodge on that side of the river. The first officers were George 
Presley, Abner Royce, George E. Hartwell, Thomas Liggett, and S. D. 
Phelps. A third came in 1874, when the West Side lodge was organized 
with F. W. Pelton as presiding officer. 

Then came Ellsworth lodge in 1865 and Woodward in 1875. Still 
earlier than these lodges came the chapters. Webb Chapter, Royal Arch 
Masons, dates from January 18, 1826. The first officers were Reuben 
Smith, J. Hubbell and Mathew Williams. The membership in the ’80s 
was over 350, and the meetings were held at Masonic Hall in the Case 
Block. Thatcher Chapter was organized in 1867. The first officers were 
Peter Thatcher, E. T. Ellsworth and F. W. Pelton. The meetings were 
held in Masonic Hall on Franklin Avenue. At the close of the 70s there 
were 202 members. Baker Chapter was organized in 1879 with sixty 
members, C. P. Jewett, E. I. Freeman, J. K. Runals, George E. Dunbar, 
J. B. Corlett and others. They met at Masonic Hall on Broadway. Cleve¬ 
land Council was organized in 1865 and its first officers were E. A. Hopkins, 
C. A. Woodward, G. E. Adams, Edward Buding, D. E. Field and G. w! 
Berry. The meetings were held in Case Block. Oriental Commandery 
(Knights Templar) was organized in 1851. The presiding officer was 
A. D. Bigelow. This lodge met at Case Block. Holyrood Commandery 
(Knights Templar) was organized in 1878. Samuel Briggs, George A. 
Baker, George W. Short and George W. Howe were among the officers 
Eliadah Grand Lodge of Perfection of the Ancient Scottish Rite began its 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


527 


work in 1859 with Peter Thatcher in the chair. They met at Case Hall. 
Bahurim Council Prince of Jerusalem started in 1859 with Albert C. 
McNairy at its head. Brenton D. Babcock was a later officer. They met at 
Case Hall. Ariel Chapter was organized in 1860 with Theodore Rose, 
Peter Thatcher, Albert C. McNairy, George H. Burt, Robert S. Weaver 
and Richard Creighton as officers. Samuel Briggs was a later officer. 
A1 Koran Temple (Nobles of the Mystic Shrine) was organized in 1876 
and its officers were Samuel Briggs, John A. Norton and Charles T. Wesley. 

And from these lodges organized before the ’80s has grown into large 
proportions the Masonic fraternity of the city. There are today forty-three 
blue lodges, seventeen Royal Arch chapters, five councils of Royal and 
Select Masters, eight commanderies, the Scottish Rite degrees, the Tall 
Cedars of Lebanon, A1 Koran Temple, A1 Sirat Grotto and A1 Sirat 



The Union Club House 


Caldron. There are four Masonic associations—the Knights Templar 
Association, the Masonic Mutual Aid Association, the Masonic Board of 
Relief and the Masonic Club. There is also the Masonic Employment 
Bureau, the Masonic Council of Engineers EmpcymcntBureauandthe 
Masonic Temple Association. This latter carried through the building of 
the attractive Masonic Temple on Euclid Avenue, the center of Masonry 
and the central home of Masons in the city. There are seven colored lodges 
in the city. Besides the central Masonic Temple on Euclid, there are 
Woodward, Lorain, Saint Clair, Nottingham, Miles Park, Lakewood and 

“There are manytodges'o Allied orders to Masonry in the city. There 
mere are many s n « of Amaranth, twenty-two Eastern Star 

are four “^nlr of DeMolay for boys, has a thriving lodge in the 
dty' eS Palestine Shrine of the White Shrine of Jerusalem is the onlyriod^e 
of jhat order in thegy but by 

entertained the meeting in tne city £ anada and Scotland. In 

.. .he Supreme Shrine. 

There were 2,000 in attendance. 







528 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


The Odd Fellows, which have as the objects of the order “to visit the 
sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, and educate the orphan, to 
improve and elevate the character of man,” organized its first lodge, Cleve¬ 
land No. 13, in 1842. The charter members were Gideon F. Tindall, John 
Forbey, J. H. Monroe, J. J. Phillips, Francis Harding, S. B. Logan, Isaac 
Cornell, D. A. Eddy, Albert Harris, William Cubbin and Edward Downs. 
This, the oldest lodge in Northern Ohio, had at the close of the 70s 179 
members and their meetings were held at Odd Fellows Hall on the Public 
Square. Cuyahoga Lodge of 150 members was meeting at the same place. 
Erie Lodge that met at Odd Fellows Block at the corner of Pearl and 
Church was organized in 1844. Phoenix, that came into being ten years 
later and met at the same place, had, twenty-five years later, 217 members, 
and its officers were Belden Seymour, E. K. Wilcox, J. C. Cannon, H. E. 
Chubb, J. Wagner, S. W. Nelson, A. A. Wenham, Wylie Smith, John 
Nelson, R. Bacon, Alexander Hadden, J. H. Lockwood, W. M. Crowell, 
A. Kinney and W. W. Williams. 

Then in order came Cataract Lodge in 1855, Allemania Lodge, Anchor 
Lodge in 1867, and University Lodge in the same year, Donau Lodge in 

1871, Banner Lodge in 1874 and Mayflower in 1879. The North Wing 
Encampment was organized in 1862 and the Harmonia Encampment in 

1872. We have thus mentioned the early members of the family of Odd 
Fellows in the city. There are now twenty-one lodges, three encampments, 
two Patriarch Militant organizations and seventeen Rebekah degree lodges. 
A bi-monthly journal called the Fraternity has been published in Cleveland 
for some three years. It is edited by Ed. O. Peets and is devoted largely 
to Odd fellowship. 


In 1869 two Knights of Pythias lodges were organized in the city, 
Washington on the East Side and Lake Shore on the West Side. The 
officers of each, ten years later were: Of Washington, C. J. McDowell, 
E. H. Gault, Louis Black, Samuel Ward, E. W. Cooper, Thomas Tibbitp 
W. B. Rich, E. W. Goddard, Louis Stanton and M. E. Kavanagh; of Lake 
Shore, W. H. Jones, Thomas Axworthy, F. W. Pelton, W. J. Ranney, 
H. J. Webb, Thomas Willows, Charles H. Babcock, F. Hoffman and 
J. L. Sheppard. Herman Lodge was organized in 1871 and after that 
Standard. Cleveland Lodge composed of Germans was organized in 1873 
and held their meetings at Lake and Ontario. Owatana came into being 
the same year and the South Side, Oak and Forest City in 1875. The Red 
Cross was organized in the centennial year, 1876. Sections seventy-six 
and eighty-nine of the Endowment Rank were established in 1879, and 
Cuyahoga Division of the Uniform Rank the same year. This division 
held its drills on the Public Square. The Preux Chevalier Division of the 
Uniform Rank held its drills at Pearl and Bridge and in the Armory. This 
was organized a year before. They have now twenty-nine lodges, and the 
Pythian Sisters, the woman’s department of the order, have fifteen temples 
It is practically true of all of the fraternal orders that the women have 
organized auxiliary or associate lodges that have flourished to a marked 
degree. Colored lodges have been formed in the city as in many of the 
fraternal orders. The Edwin Cowles and Western Reserve lodges of 
colored men were flourishing in the early ’90s. 

The Foresters did not organize in Cleveland until 1871, when courts 
Robinhood, Star of the Forest and Excelsior were founded. Then came 
Court Little John in 1872, courts Ivanhoe and Standard in 1873, courts 
To?! w R ^! ie (^man) and King of the Germans (German) in 
1876, Woodland in 1877, and Zaboy and Rowanoprownost (Bohemian) 
the same year. Court Union, organized in 1876, completes the list of the 
very early units. The officers of the Cleveland United District at the close 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


529 


of the 70s were S. O. Dillon, Samuel Finch, Robert Huntley and F. H. 
Ellenberger. At present, besides the High Court of Ohio (Canadian), 
there are twenty-three courts and one court of the Uniform Rank in the 
city. 

The Knights of Honor began in 1876 with two lodges, the Centennial 
and Advance. Iu 1878 the Cleveland, Triumph and Euclid Avenue were 
founded and in 1879 the Idaho, and Economy. Before the beginning of 
the twentieth century there had been established Maple Leaf Court of the 
Court of Honor, four lodges of the Knights of Honor were in operation 
and fourteen lodges of the Knights and Ladies of Honor. 

The multiplicity of organizations that have come into being since and 
are now in operation for mutual benefit we can only touch upon. The 
Beneficial Union, of which Louis Valz is supreme president, has two lodges 
in the city, the Brotherhood of American Yoeman has three homesteads, 
the Ancient Order of Hibernians, William Gavin, president, have organi¬ 
zations numbered one, five and seven. There is the Saint John the Evan¬ 
gelist Council of the Catholic Benevolent Legion, the Catholic Daughters 
of America with three organizations, Mary L. Brady, regent, the Catholic 
Knights of Ohio with four branches including a ladies’ auxiliary, the 
Catholic Order of Foresters with twenty-eight courts, the Daughters of 
America with six councils, Toechter Lodge of the Daughters of Israel, 
three lodges of the Daughters of Saint George^ and a lodge and aid society 
of the Daughters of Scotland, the Foresters of America with six courts and 
two junior courts and the Cleveland Aerie of the Fraternal Order of 
Eagles, with Thomas J. Long as president. Cleveland Aerie has a com¬ 
modious clubhouse on Fifty-fifth Street and has a large membership. 

There are the Guardians of Liberty with two lodges, the Improved 
Order of Red Men with four lodges and the Degree of Pocahontas 
Auxiliary to the Order of Red Men with four lodges, the Independent 
Order of Foresters (Canadian) with twenty-three courts and one encamp¬ 
ment of the Uniform Rank, Cleveland Lodge Independent Order of B’nai 
B’rith, the Knights of Malta with eighteen commanderies and the Dames 
of Malta with nineteen commanderies, the International Order of Good 
Templars with three lodges, the Knights of Columbus with three councils 
and the Knights of Saint John with eighteen commanderies. 

The Knights of the Golden Eagle have two castles and one commandery, 
and the Ladies of the Golden Eagle one temple. The Loyal Orange Insti¬ 
tution has two lodges and the Ladies’ Orange Association one lodge. The 
Loval Order of Moose is represented in the city by two lodges. They own 
a large hall on Walnut Street, which is the scene of many large gatherings 
The Royal Black Knights of the Camp of Israel have a precentory which 
is the only one in the city. The Maccabees have eighteen tents, the Modern 
Woodmen of America eleven camps, the National Protective Legion is 
represented by six legions, the National Union Assurance Society has five 
councils the North American Union six councils and two associate councils. 
The Woman’s Benefit Association of the Maccabees has twenty-eight re- 
views, the Order of B’rith Abraham four lodges, the Order of Knights of 
Joseph eight lodges, the Order of Scottish Clans is represented by Clan 
Grant and the Ladies’ Auxiliary, and the Protected Home Circle by seven- 

teen drcles Arcanum has four councils in the city the Royal League 
seven the RLal Neighbors of America, auxiliary to the Modern Woodmen 
U fi’Unmos The Security Benefit Association has nine councils, the 
Tr be of BenHur three courts! and the Woodmen of the World th.rty-mne 
tribe 01 ft®"if . , H Q rder of Ohio has a grand union and thirteen 

There i. .he Cle.el.nd Led,, of .he Ship 


530 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Masters’ Association and Britannia Lodge of the Sons of Saint George. 
The Ladies’ Catholic Benevolent Association has forty-three branches. 

The patriotic orders are well represented in the city. The Grand Army 
of the Republic (rightly named) has seven posts, although the ranks are 
thinned to “a fading line of blue.” There is one lodge of Union ex- 
Prisoners of War. The Woman’s Relief Corps is represented by five 
organizations, the Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic have four 
circles, the Daughters of Veterans three tents, and the Sons of Veterans 
have Lookout Camp and Cleveland Commandery of the Uniform Rank. 
The United Spanish War Veterans have seven camps, and the Veterans 
of Foreign Wars of the United States five posts. We have the Army 
and Navy_Union, F. R. Long, commander of the Department of Ohio, with 
two garrisons. The latest of these organizations is the American Legion 
with Gen. John R. McQuigg as chairman. There are already twenty-six 
posts formed and the members are soldiers of the republic in the World 
war. 

Of the so-called labor organizations of the city the Brotherhood of 
Locomotive Engineers take first rank. Warren S. Stone is grand chief with 
headquarters in the beautiful Engineers Building and there are six lodges 
in the city. This order, with 85,000 members in the United States and 
under its efficient management, is one of the most powerful and progressive 
of its kind in the world. We have referred in the chapter on financial 
Cleveland to its entrance into the financial world. The Brotherhood of 
Railway Trainmen, with W. G. Lee as president, has five lodges in the city 
and is second only to the first mentioned in commanding influence. There 
are also three lodges of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and 
Engineers and twelve lodges of the Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship 
Clerks, Station and Express Employees. 

Altogether there are about 150 labor unions in the city representing a 
great variety of employments. For greater efficiency these are joined 
together in a federation, many of them, and also give allegiance to the 
national body as a supreme head under the direction of Samuel Gompers, 
who is at the head of organized labor in the United States. These organi¬ 
zations have worked for better hours, for better working conditions, and 
for better wages. In this they have accomplished much and usually without 
the resort to strikes. There have been some expensive strikes in the city, 
but in later years many impending strikes have been averted by a confer¬ 
ence of employer and employee. Strikes are regarded by organized labor 
as their strong weapon in enforcing terms, but as they are almost invariably 
accompanied by violence, they beget a spirit of lawlessness that injures the 
character of the men engaged, and loses the sympathy of the non-striking 
public. 

The question of the closed or the open shop is one that has engaged the 
attention of the labor unions and the manufacturers in the city for some 
time. The closed shop is one where none but union men are employed and 
the open shop is one where both union and non-union men are employed. 
The advocates of the closed shop argue that as better hours, wages and 
working conditions are due to the efforts of the unions, one who refuses 
to join the union gets the benefit of this without having contributed with 
the rest. The advocates of the open shop put forth the argument that the 
dosed shop takes away the liberty of an employee—that he must join the 
union or starve. Many of the large employers of labor are operating the 
open shop and it is said this includes a great majority. 

Including college fraternities, alumni associations and miscellaneous 
organizations there are 226 fraternal units in the city. 

Classed more accurately as historical associations, the Western Reserve 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


531 


Chaptei of the Daughters of the Revolution, the Commodore Perry Chapter 
of the Daughters of 1812, the New England Society, the Early Settlers' 
Association and the Western Reserve Historical Society should be men¬ 
tioned. 

There is a radio society, a commercial travelers’ association, and like 
societies. The Alta House, the Central Friendly Inn, the Cleveland Musical 
School Settlement, the Educational Alliance Council, the East End Neigh¬ 
borhood House, the Goodrich House, the Pilgrim Institute, the Playhouse, 
the Rainey Memorial Industrial Institute, and the West Side Community 
House are social settlements doing a wonderful work and of each could be 
written a volume. The same might be said of the Young Men’s Christian 
Association, and the Young Women’s Christian Association, each having 
new, beautiful and finely equipped buildings on Prospect Avenue. There 
is also a Young Old Men’s Association. 

Among the temperance societies are the Cuyahoga County Women’s 
Temperance Union, the Dry Maintenance League, and the Women’s 
Christian Temperance Union of Cleveland, which latter institution manages 
the Central Friendly Inn, the Girls’ Friendly Club, the Lakeside Rest 
Cottage, the Rainey Memorial Industrial Institute and a training home 
for girls. 

Of the benevolent societies of the past and present, first and foremost 
is the Associated Charities. This is supported largely from a common 
fund called the Community Chest, which is raised each year by popular 
subscriptions and is distributed among the various hospitals and charities 
of the city. The amount so raised annually is $4,500,000. The amount 
given the Associated Charities in 1893 was $437,199, and nearly $52,000 
was received from other sources. The present head of the association is 
James F. Jackson and he is surrounded by a loyal corps of assistants. 

The Altenheim, a home for aged people, Bethesda Deaconess Home, 
Children’s Boarding House and Nursery, Children’s Fresh Air Camp, 
Church Home for the Sick and Friendless, Cleveland Boys’ Association, 
Cleveland Christian Orphanage, Cleveland Day Nursery, Cleveland Home 
for Aged Colored People, Cleveland Protestant Orphan Asylum, Dorcas 
Invalids’ Home, Eliza Jennings Home for Incurables, Epworth Fresh Air 
Camp, the Floating Bethel, the Golden Rule Home for Working Girls, 
Holy Cross House (a home for cripples), Home for Aged Women, Home 
for Friendless Girls, Home for the Aged Poor, Home of the Holy Family 
for Homeless and Orphan Children, House of the Good Shepherd, In His 
Name Children’s Home and Hospital, Independent Montefore Shelter 
House, Infants’ Orphans’ Home (Jewish), Jewish Orphan Asylum, the 
Jones Home for Friendless Children, Lend-a-Hand Mission, Methodist 
Episcopal Deaconess Home, Montefore Home for Aged and Infirm Israel¬ 
ites, Rainbow Cottage for Convalescent Children, Rescue Mission and 
Home, the Retreat (a reformatory home for unfortunate girls), Saint 
Catharine’s Home for Orphan Boys, Saint John’s Orphans’ and Old 
People’s Home, Saint Joseph Orphan Asylum, Saint Mary’s Home for 
Working Girls, Saint Vincent’s Orphan Asylum, the Salvation Army 
Rescue Home and the Wayfarers’ Lodge (for stranded men and women) 
are some of the benevolent institutions that deserve mention in discussing 
the care the city in taking of the unfortunates, and there are over 800 
benevolent societies separate and apart from these institutions 

Cleveland has 268 clubs of various kinds. Among the political clubs 
the Tippecanoe located in the Hollenden Hotel Building, is perhaps the 
oldest in the city, having been founded in the Harrison presidential cam¬ 
paign of 1840 Its first president was Hon. Frederick Whittlesey and its 
first secretary James M. Hoyt. Its membership has included many men 


532 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


of prominence in public life, including Senator M. A. Hanna, President 
McKinley and President Harding. It is republican in politics. Senator 
Theodore E. Burton is honorary president, judge John J. Sullivan, presi¬ 
dent, and W. R. Coates, secretary. Mrs. E. C. T. Miller is the treasurer. 
The Western Reserve Republican Club was founded as a memorial to 
William J. Crawford, whose death was very deeply deplored. It has a 
beautiful clubhouse on East Fifty-fifth Street, where many interesting 
political gatherings are held. The Sycamore Club on the West Side is a 
democratic organization that has a history dating back many years. It 
keeps alive the best traditions of the party and is active in present-day 
politics. The Eighth Ward Democratic Gun Club that was organized some 
years ago should be included in the list. The League of Republican Clubs 
that is made up of delegates from nearly 100 local clubs is an active 
political organization. The president is Theodore Wenz. It holds monthly 
meetings. The Attucks Republican Club is the largest and best known 
colored political club in the city. The Tom L. Johnson Debating Club was 
an influential democratic organization during his regime in the city. The 
Wampanoag Indians is a republican organization on the West Side that 
has a historj dating back a quarter of a century. 

Leaving^the realm of politics, or party politics, we have the City Club, 
which is a large and influential organization. It holds large meetings in 
the Hollenden, its home, and they are addressed by speakers holding every 
shade of political belief. This last statement may be qualified, for, in 1923, 
objection by many members was raised to the engagement of Eugene V. 
Debs to speak before the club and the speaking engagement was cancelled. 
Its president is Robert J. Bulkley. 

In athletics we have the Cleveland Baseball Club, with Tris Speaker as 
manager, an organization that has once won the pennant and put Cleveland 
on the baseball map; the Cleveland Athletic Club, that has its own building 
and club rooms on Euclid Avenue; the Cleveland Automobile Club, with 
popular Fred Caley as its secretary, which has its club rooms in the 
Hollenden, but can hardly be classed with the athletic organizations; the 
Aviation and Athletic Club with rooms in the Winton Hotel and one of the 
newer clubs of the city. The president of this latest addition to the clubs 
of Cleveland is Roland T. Meacham. There are many golf clubs, including 
the Canterbury Golf Club and others that hold golf as the leading thing 
of interest. 

There is the Hermit Club that has gained much fame through its dra¬ 
matic entertainments, the Bankers Club of Cleveland with Joseph R. Kraus 
as its president, the Kiwanis Club with Edwin C. Forbes as secretary, the 
Moose Club, the Cleveland Advertising Club with H. C. Wick, Jr., as 
president, the Woman’s City Club and nine other of like composition, the 
American Legion Club, the Excelsior, the Elks Club, the Cleveland Federa¬ 
tion of Women’s Clubs, the Knights of Columbus Club, the Musicians’ 
Club, the Rotary Club of Cleveland, the Singers and Fortnightly clubs and 
nineteen other musical associations, which includes the Philharmonic String 
Quartette, the American Federation of Musicians, the Cleveland Orchestra 
with Nikolai Sokoloff as conductor and Adella Prentiss Hughes as its 
manager and the Musical Arts Association with John L. Severance as its 
president. 

It is impossible within the space allotted to speak of many of interest, 
but the brief review will give something of the diversitv of the clubs in 
the city. The Magyar Culture Club, the Sons of Italy, the Business 
Woman’s Club, the Socialer-Turn-Verein, the Swiss 'Hall, the First 
Catholic Slovak Union, the Graphic Arts Club, the Bachelors Club, the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


533 


On Leon Tong, the Martha Lee Club, the Paragon Club, the Cleveland Cut 
Stone Club, are some of those selected at random from the extensive list. 

One of the most influential, the wealthiest and most distinguished of 
the clubs of the city is the Union Club. Its membership includes men of 
wealth and business standing in the community and its history dates back 
many years. Its clubhouse on Euclid Avenue is in keeping with the 
character of its members—solid and substantial. The Union Club, one of 
the oldest non-political clubs in the city, was incorporated September 25, 
1872. Among the incorporators were Samuel L. Mather, Harvey H. 
Brown, Henry B. Payne, Waldemer Otis, William Bingham, C. P. Petten- 
gill, George H. Vaillant, Amos Townsend, James Barnett, C. H. Bulkley, 
Alexander Gunn, Oliver H. Payne and Nathan P. Payne. The club was 
organized in 1873 with William Bingham as its first president, Henry B. 
Payne and William J. Boardman, vice presidents, Waldemer Otis as secre¬ 
tary and Sylvester T. Everett as treasurer. The presidents in their order 
since have been Henry B. Payne, Amos Townsend, Samuel L. Mather, 
Marcus A. Hanna, Fayette Brown, Charles H. Bulkley, James Barnett, 
William Chisholm, John H. McBride, William B. Sanders, Charles F. 
Brush, John F. Whitelaw, James H. Dempsey, Liberty H. Holden, David 
Z. Noeton, Ambrose Swasey, Samuel Mather, Lyman H. Treadway, 
Andrew Squire, Charles E. Adams, Richard F. Grant and Kermode F. 
Gill, the present chief officer. Chester C. Bolton is vice president and 
George A. Coulton second vice president. L. W. Blythe is treasurer and 
William F. Michalske, secretary. 

The membership is limited to 1,000 and the quota has always been full 
and there are now forty on the waiting list. In addition to the 1,000 
regular members there are about 250 non-resident and honorary members. 
The club in 1923 celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. 


CHAPTER XXXVII 


THE CITY BEAUTIFUL—ITS PARKS AND PUBLIC BUILD¬ 
INGS, PLAYHOUSES AND HOMES 

“In miles of pleasant homes thy people dwell, 

A thousand ships within thy harbor lie at ease, 

Ten thousand chimneys high thy prowess tell— 

O fairest mart upon the land-locked seas!” 

In the years following the Civil war, and for some years before, Cleve¬ 
land’s pride was its beautiful residence streets. And fairest of all was 
Euclid Avenue, pronounced by Bayard Taylor, the great traveler, the finest 
street in the world. It has been said that for many years a person might as 
well go to Rome without seeing Saint Peters, or to London without seeing 
the tower, or to Washington without seeing the Capitol as to visit Cleveland 
without seeing Euclid Avenue. While Prospect and other streets were 
elegant drives lined with beautiful residences, Euclid Avenue, with its 
beautiful homes extending eastward for such a long distance, its extensive 
and well kept lawns and the ornament of trees and flowers was the especial 
pride of all Cleveland. The city was and is a city of home owners. It leads 
in that respect. Nearly 40 per cent of its families own their own homes. 

The change that has come over Euclid Avenue in later years is due to 
the natural aggression of trade. The residences are giving way to business 
blocks, but the advent of the automobile has made suburban homes avail¬ 
able to Cleveland business men and thus with less reluctance do the residents 
of this famous avenue give way to the advancing hosts of trade. At the 
present rate of transformation, in a few years this street will be a great 
business thoroughfare, extending east for some ten miles. A similar trans¬ 
formation is overtaking Prospect and other streets on the East Side and 
Detroit and others on the West Side. 

Moses Cleveland established the first park in the city when he surveyed 
the Public Square, but not with the same thought in mind that has ani¬ 
mated the men of vision who have inaugurated and pushed forward the 
park system that we have today. His object was to establish a center of the 
town, the question of recreation was amply provided for in the untamed 
forest stretching in every direction from the lake. This Public Square was 
not improved or even graded for some years. As the city grew, men of 
vision began the agitation for public parks, but without much support 
from the general public. There were some donations of land. In 1836 
Brooklyn Township gave Franklyn Circle to the newly organized Ohio City 
for a public park. This little public domain had some attention and was 
cared for by the corporation of Ohio City and then of Cleveland, but it was 
eventually to be disturbed by the three cent fare line of Mayor Johnson 
which pierced its center. Clinton Park was established and dedicated to the 
public as a real estate project to aid in the selling of home sites in the 
neighborhood but it failed to aid materially. It is now a playground and 
given little attention by the authorities. In 1853 Nathan Perry offered to 
sell to the city seven acres on Euclid Avenue for a public park. His price, 

534 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


535 


$2,000 an acre, was rejected by the city as too high. This land is now 
worth more than that per foot. 

In 1860 there was agitation among a few residents of the city for parks, 
but the people generally opposed the project. What did they want of parks 
when there were hundreds of acres of wild forest land all about them! 
In 1867 what was known as Shanty Town on the lake front was purchased 
by the city for $235,000. The old buildings were torn down and Lake 
View Park established. This was kept up for some years, fountains 
played and the grass was green and people came in picnic parties and 



Monument to Tom L. Johnson 
Northwest Corner, Public Square, Cleveland. 


children romped on the green, but there was only the slope, very little level 
land, the railroads below sent up their smoke and it was only used f or jack 
of something better. The new courthouse and city hall are now located on 
this tract. At the close of the 70s the people were waking up to the needs 
of oarks to some extent In 1880 the city bought Pelton Park on the South 
S !d? now Li“oln Park, and in 1882 j/h Wade gave Wade Park to the 
city. Gordon Park was given to the city by the provisions of the will of 
William T. Gordon and the city later added thirty acres more by purchase. 

Under an act of the Legislature a park board was ^ thonz ®d > n 
land in 1893 and the following gentlemen organized as such boa . 
Mayor Robert Blee, Charles H. Bulkley, Amos Townsend, John F. Pank- 
hurst and A. J. Michael. Mr. Michael was succeeded soon after the orgam- 






536 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


zation by Charles A. Davidson. F. C. Bangs was the secretary. This 
board of excellent progressive men gave much time to the question of a 
complete park system for the city, but they were often ridiculed and 
hampered in their work. So recently emerged from the primeval woods 
not seeing the future need of parks to a great city the people were indiffer¬ 
ent to their efforts. Great credit should be given to Mr. Bulkley, who 
worked untiringly for the park system and without compensation. He has 



The Perry Monument 

been called the father of the park system of Cleveland. Through his stand¬ 
ing in the community he secured many contributions of park lands. 

Mrs. Martha Ambler gave twenty-five acres for Ambler Parkway and 
the city increased this tract by the purchase of five acres more. In 1895 
the Shaker Heights Land Company gave 278 acres, which tract included 
the old Shaker settlement. The next year John D. Rockefeller gave 276 
acres, now included in Rockefeller Park. University Circle was given to 
the city by the Case School of Applied Science, J. H. Wade and Patrick 
Calhoun. A part of Kingsbury Run was given to the city for park pur¬ 
poses by the Cleveland and Youngstown Railway Company. The city 
bought Edgewater, Brookside and Garfield parks/ In 1900, after having 
established a real park system destined to be one of the greatest and best 





THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


537 


in the United States, the park board was abolished. The parks having 
become a recognized feature and necessary to the health and happiness of 
the citizens of the city, their management was given over to a department 
of the city government. 

There are now in the city forty parks with a total area of 2,200 acres. 
Of this over 980 acres have been donated to the city and the balance 
purchased at a cost of nearly $3,000,000. The large parks of the city are 
Brookside, where the Zoo is now located; Edgewater, a famous bathing 



Monument to Senator Marcus A. Hanna, 
University Circle, Cleveland 
Decorated with flowers on the eighty-fifth anni¬ 
versary of his birthday, September 24, 1922. 


resort, and Gordon, also on the lake, Forest Hill, Garfield, Shakei Heights, 
Rockefeller, Wade, Washington, West Boulevard, Woodland Hills, Wood¬ 
land and Garfield Boulevard, Ambler Parkway Woodland Hills Boule¬ 
vard, Kingsbury Run, Lake Front, Lake View and Jefferson., Shakespeare 
Garden in Rockefeller is a point of interest. Here in 1'919 the poet 
Markam, author of “The Man With a Hoe,” p anted a tree. A hickory 
tree from the old home of President Andrew Jackson was also planted 
In these parks are fifteen playgrounds for children occupied under 
supervision ami 200 baseball and football fields, besides tennis courts and 
horseshoe courts. It may be mentioned in this connection that Cleveland 
has forty-three and a half miles of boulevards. 




538 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


With its offices in the city the Metropolitan Park Board is working out 
a great project of parks and boulevards skirting the county and extending 
from the mouth of Rocky River to the mouth of Chagrin River. As some¬ 
one has expressed it, it has to do with health, happiness and the great out¬ 
doors and is a “next to nature” proposition. When completed according to 
the plans it will embrace seventy miles of drive and thousands of acres of 
recreation grounds. Historic spots will be guarded, natural scenic spots 
preserved and an elaborate system worked out. 

This project originated with County Engineer William A. Stinchcomb, 
who suggested the idea in an annual report. A member of the Chamber 
of Industry sought to put the idea into practical form and at his insistance 
a meeting was called, a bill was drawn and a delegation of the chamber 
went to Columbus to present the matter to the Legislature. Harry M. 
Farnsworth for the delegation presented the matter to a committee of the 
Senate and the first legislation establishing a county park board was passed. 
This was a start and the measure provided for a small levy. Under the 
provisions of the act Probate Judge Hadden appointed Harry M. Farns¬ 
worth, Louis A. Moses and Charles H. Miller as members of the board. 
The committee organized by choosing Harry M. Farnsworth as president, 
a position which he still holds; Louis A. Moses, vice president; W. A. 
Stinchcomb, consulting engineer; Vernon D. Croft, engineer, and R. C. 
Hyre, secretary. 

Subsequent legislation has been enacted and much work has been 
accomplished. The board has acquired some 5,000 acres of virgin forest 
and natural scenic spots, an area twice as large as that of the city parks 
combined. Included in this are 300 acres called the “Harriet Keeler 
Memorial Woods” in the heart of the natural forest reservation of Brecks- 
ville. Miss Keeler, for many years a teacher in the Cleveland public 
schools, had won a place in the world of letters and in the hearts of thou¬ 
sands by her books. Among them are “Our Native Trees,” published in 
1900; “The Wild Flowers of Early Spring,” published in 1894; “Our 
Garden Flowers,” published in 1910; “Our Early Wild Flowers,” pub¬ 
lished in 1916, and “The Wayside Flowers,” published in 1917. Miss 
Keeler also published in connection with Emma C. Davis, a sister of 
Mrs. Rebecca Rickoff, a book for school use entitled “Studies in English 
Composition.” Other of her works are “The Life of Adelia Field 
Johnston,” who was dean of the woman’s department at Oberlin College, 
and in connection with Laura H. Wild, “Ethical Readings from the Bible.” 

The Metropolitan Park Board has had to combat some litigation as to 
its right to exist, but the Supreme Court of Ohio has said it is a lawful and 
properly constituted body and it is now acting under a law which assures it 
the proceeds of a levy of one-tenth of a mill with which to continue the 
work of encircling Cleveland with seventy miles of recreation grounds 
and boulevards. The Cleveland Recreation Council is cooperating in the 
work. As the city extends its borders it will approach nearer and nearer 
JP this great system and will be justified in adhering to its original title of 
The Forest City.” Now the commercial and industrial and numerical 
metropolis of Ohio, with a population as shown by the last city directory of 
over 1,000,000 souls, fifth in the nation in population and second in diversi¬ 
fied industries, it is a city of “progress and beauty.” 

Its public buildings and business blocks are in keeping with its growth, 
t has the oldest and finest arcade in the world, rivaled only by one at 
Milan, Italy. There are several attractive arcades in the downtown section 
x? r/!?' Besides the Superior Arcade, the one mentioned, there are the 
Euclid, the Colonial and the Taylor, all opening upon Euclid Avenue Old 
Case Block that faced the Public Square on the east was replaced by the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


539 


Federal Building, which was secured through the efforts of Congress¬ 
man Theodore E. Burton. Cleveland was the first American city to plan 
the grouping of public buildings around a mall. This plan is progressing 
with the years. The Federal Building, the new Courthouse and City Hall, 
the Auditorium, seating 14,000 people, and the Public Library, in process 
of construction, a beautiful addition, are some of the leading features of the 
plan under way. In the Auditorium was held the National Republican Con¬ 
vention in 1924. The East Ohio Gas Company Building, a quasi public 
building, could be included in the list. 



Harvey Rice Monument 

In 1876 the Weddell House at the corner of Bank (East Sixth) and 
Superior ranked with the best hotels of the land. The Kennard at Saint 
Clair due north, the Forest City House on the Public Square, the American 
House on the south side of Superior, west of Bank Street, stood, with the 
Weddell, as the leading hotels of the city. Now, in the lapse of nearly 
fifty years, save the Cleveland Hotel, which replaced the Forest City, the 
leading hotels are east of the Public Square. The Hollenden, the Oknsted, 
the Statler, the Winton, the Colonial, are among them In 1876 the 
Striebinger House on Michigan Street was the newest hotel in the city. 
“Its rooms, ninety in number, are large, lofty and commodious, connected 
with the hotel is an extensive and well-appointed stable capable of accom 
modating 140 horses,” is a description from the old annals. This house was 

built and operated by the Striebinger brothers fQr many years^ 

The first theater opened in the city was the Theater Comique, located 

on Frankfort Street, open the year around and ^° tei ^ 0 ^L^wTs 
ances The proprietor was Jacques A. Montpelier, Monte as 
familiarly called. The Academy of Music on Bank Street was the 





540 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


so-called legitimate playhouse in the city. It was managed by John A. 
Ellsler and here Joseph Jefferson played “Rip Van Winkle” and other 
great actors and actresses performed. It was a leading playhouse in its 
day. Brainard’s Opera House on Superior, later the Globe Theater, was 
devoted to the use of minstrel and concert troupes, and occasionally dramatic 
performances were given there. But the drift was eastward and in 1875 
the Euclid Avenue Opera House was opened. In its day this was one of 
the finest and most luxurious places of amusements in the United States. 
This theater, seating over 1,600, has a history of unusual interest. All the 
great actors and actresses appeared upon its stage—Booth, Barrett, Keene, 
Mrs. Drew, John Drew, Jefferson, Julia Marlowe, Irving, Mansfield, 
Maude Adams, Mary Anderson, Barrymore, Della Fox, Nat Goodwin, 
Hackett, Hopper, Modjeska, Ellen Terry, Denman Thompson, Lillian 
Russell and a host of others. 

It is interesting to read a description of this playhouse as it appeared 
in 1876 in view of the fact that it was opened under the management of 
John A. Ellsler, as lessee, who was a heavy stockholder in the enterprise, 
that it was owned for many years by Senator Hanna, and for the further 
fact that because of the many memories clustering around it, a multitude 
of hearts were saddened when, a year ago, it was torn down to be sup¬ 
planted by a commercial building. “The main entrance is on Euclid 
Avenue through a vestibule forty feet wide, the floor of which is laid with 
tessellated and mosaic marble. Everything in the house in the way of 
furniture is of the most luxurious character. The walls and woodwork of 
the auditorium are finished in light and dark cream, with decorations in 
gold. The frescoing of the dome and vestibule is of rare beauty. On the 
inside of the main dome are four groups of figures, representing Music, 
Comedy, Tragedy and Poetry. Amid the rich ornamentation are portraits 
of Shakespeare, Byron, Rossini, Mozart, Goethe, Dante, Milton, Schiller, 
Bryant, Mayerbeer, Wagner, Bellini, and Beethoven. Dependent from 
the ceiling is the grand prismatic chandelier, the largest prismatic chandelier 
in the United States. The footlights are so arranged with electric apparatus 
that they can be changed to produce plain white light, moonlight, twilight 
or sunsets by a simple manipulation of keys.” 

Playhouse Square at the junction of Huron and Euclid, a point which 
was for many years the city limits, is the present center of the dramatic 
art. The Hanna Building, rising in immense proportions and covering 
nearly a whole square, contains the Hanna Theater. The Keith Building, 
one of the highest in the city, contains the Palace Theater, which for equip¬ 
ment and grandeur exceeds any other in the city. It will seat 5,000 people. 
Nearby are the Allen, Ohio and State, which are finely appointed, quite 
new and make up the quota of Playhouse Square. Reed’s Hippodrome 
on Euclid near East Ninth Street has a large seating capacity and until the 
building of the Keith’s Palace was the largest and finest in the city. The 
Colonial Theater on Superior, the Empire on Huron and the Star on 
Euclid, near East Sixth Street, are others that shotild be noted that were 
flourishing before Playhouse Square came into being. There are eighty 
moving picture theaters in the city and some of these, like the Stillman, the 
Mall and the Miles and many others that could be mentioned, have large 
seating capacity and give elaborate musical programs. Every important 
trade center in the city outside of downtown Cleveland has one or more 
moving picture theaters. 

Of the new buildings in the city the Federal Reserve Bank Building 
the Union Trust Building, the Cleveland Public Library Building, the 
Medical Center Building, the Cleveland Museum of Art Building’, the 
Bulkley Building and the Municipal Auditorium have added much in the 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


541 


building line to the beauty of Greater Cleveland. We have not spoken 
before of the Art Building. It has not been until recently that the people 
of the city have been awake to the educational and cultural advantages of 
art and art exhibits. It has been said that the beautiful art collection of 
Charles F. Olney, which was secured by Oberlin College, could have been 
kept in the city if the people had been sufficiently interested in the matter, 
but engrossed in business the opportunity was permitted to pass by. 

And now we are proud of Cleveland as an art center. The Cleveland 
Museum of Art opened its doors in 1916 and in a little over three years 
1,050,000 people had visited it. This building, costing $1,000,000 and 
with its contents worth or soon to be worth $1,000,00 more, was made 
possible by two men, John Huntington and Horace Kelley, but many others 
have been large contributing factors. By the provisions of his will, John 



The Cleveland Museum of Art in Wade Park 


Huntington established an Art and Polytechnic Trust and by the provisio 
of the will of Horace ICelley the Horace Kelley Art Foundation, a cor¬ 
poration was formed under the name of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 
Nefther of these men knew of the designs of the other and the provisions 
of these trusts in the hands of different trustees presented obstacles in the 
way of getting together. But good lawyers found a way and both finally 
came together in a joint corporation called the Cleveland Museum of Art. 
Tudge William B. Sanders, president of the joint corporation at the 

close of an interesting X been 
S n w:^stSd on the building inYlS. The pa^k that sur 
rounds the building was given to the city by 

and the building stands on land give Liberty £ Holden 

Allen by will left $150000 ^ he M “ l ^Mary Warden Harkness gave a 
donated a collection °f P^ 1 ^ in monev. Fifty thousand dollars 
valuable to be withheld. These 

are someTfTJcontributions but not all that have added to the original 


fund. 


The building is 300 by 130 feet, beautiful and classic. 


It faces the 















>LV- »;•" . •?•■ '• ■ ■.. ■:< r vn-, 


. 

kaV-v.- 

■ 





In Lake View Cemetery, Showing the Garfield Memorial 







THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


543 


lake in Wade Park, and north on an eminence rises the beautiful statues of 
Goethe and Schiller; on the west is seen the statue of Thadeusz Kosciuszko 
with these inscriptions: “1746-1817.” “Erected by the Polish people of 
Cleveland. “I come to fight as a volunteer for American independence, 
Kosciuszko. What can you do ? asks Washington. Try me was the reply.” 
On the east is the statue of Harvey Rice—“1800-1891”—“Educator, 
Legislator, Historian”—“Father of the Common School System of Ohio” 
—“Erected by a Memorial Committee.” Across the lake on University 
Circle may be seen the statue of Marcus Alonzo Hanna—“Erected by 
Friends and Fellow Citizens commemorative of his efforts for peace 
between capital and labor, his useful citizenship and distinguished public 
service.” “Born 1837—Died 1904”; and the statue of Kossuth—“1802- 
1894.” “In commemoration of his visit to the United States, 1851-1852.” 
“Erected by the Magyar American Citizens—1902.” “His Life was 
devoted to the Cause of Liberty.” Northwest of the art museum on a 
winding driveway stands a monument to Gen. Milan R. Stefanik, which 
was dedicated in July, 1924. It was erected by the Cleveland Slovaks in 
memory of their national hero, who was killed in an aeroplane accident in 
the World war. 

In this connection the Garfield monument comes to mind, which 
overlooks Lakeview Cemetery, the Commodore Perry monument at Gordon 
Park, looking out upon the lake, the Soldiers and Sailors monument on the 
Public Square, the monument to Mayor Tom L. Johnson on another part, 
and the Richard Wagner statue at Edgewater Park, erected in 1911 by 
the Goethe-Schiller Society of Cleveland. This has the distinction of 
being the only monument on the West Side. 

Two large private amusement parks add to the amusement and recrea¬ 
tion facilties of the city, Euclid Beach Park, on the lake, managed for 
many years by the Humphries, and Luna Park, largely owned by M. F. 
Bramley, and managed for the last decade by Gen. Charles X. Zimmerman, 
who only stopped off to engage in the World war. 

Like all the American cities there were many stirring events in Cleve¬ 
land connected with the great struggle overseas, the campaigns for the 
sale of Liberty bonds and War stamps in which the city exceeded its quota, 
the enlistments during which time Gen. J. R. McQuigg and others were 
speaking almost daily on the Public Square, and then the draft, the gather¬ 
ings in the Armory and instructions to the boys going to camp. The 
Armistice was signed and the streets of Cleveland were filled with crowds 
in a wild jollification that it would hardly be possible to describe. Peace 
dawned and then came the reception to the “Blue Devils” of France, to 
the commanding general of the allied victorious armies, General Foch of 
France, and later, in 1923, to Lloyd George of England, who was prime 
minister of England during that great struggle, not to forget the reception 
and parade when Cardinal Mercier of Belgium visited the city. 

In closing we will refer briefly to the holding of the Republican 
National Convention in Cleveland in 1924, with meetings in the Municipal 
Auditorium, which was brought about by citizens of both parties, the nomi¬ 
nation of Calvin Coolidge and Gen. Charles G. Dawes for president and vice 
president, respectively, a feature of the convention being the keynote 
address by a citizen of Cleveland, Senator Theodore E. Burton, who was 
temporary chairman of the convention, and later, in the same auditorium, 
the meeting of another national convention that placed in nomination for 
the presidency, Robert M. La Follette. These two meetings recall to mind 
that onlv once before in the history of Cleveland has a national convention 
been held in the city and that was in 1864, when a wing of the republican 
party nominated Gen. John C. Fremont for the presidency in opposition to 
Abraham Lincoln. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII 
CLEVELAND IN THE WORLD WAR 


This chapter might be designated Cuyahoga County in the World war, 
for the townships and municipalities outside of the city were proportion¬ 
ately active and patriotic, but the great growth of the city, its immense 
wealth and great predominance of man power, mads it preeminently the 
center of war activities, and hence it is the historical center of the war 
story. 

From the invasion of Belgium by the German army, the struggle was 
watched by many citizens with conflicting emotions, for Cleveland has a 
large German population, amounting at one time to 40 per cent, and to 
them it held a singular relationship; while loyal to America there was still 
that natural affection for the fatherland. They discounted the stories of 
atrocities as they were published from time to time, and an attitude of 
suspicion by the non-German citizens was aroused, but be it said that in 
their efforts to save the German name the German-born were acting only 
as we now see was most natural, but in the supreme test the German cit¬ 
izens of the city were loyal with but a few exceptions. 

On February 1, .1917, the eyes of all Europe were focused on Wash¬ 
ington. Could America keep out of the great struggle? The notice that 
Germany and Austria, beginning at 6 o’clock of that day, would torpedo 
neutral ships without notice, had been promulgated. It will be remembered 
that the Lusitania, a vessel of the Cunard line, had been sunk by a German 
submarine off the coast of Ireland nearly two years before, when 1,150 
persons were drowned, including 114 citizens of the United States, and 
prominent among these were Alfred G. Vanderbilt, Elbert Hubbard, 
Charles Frohman, and Justus Miles Forman. 

When the notice referred to was announced, the French papers said: 
“Will President Wilson give way before this challenge?” On February 3d 
the order was modified so as to allow one ship a week to cross the Atlantic. 
On that day the President told his cabinet and the American people that 
the United States must stand firmly by its rights. 

On the day that President Wilson made this announcement the Ameri¬ 
can freight steamer Housatonic was torpedoed and sunk by a German sub¬ 
marine, and the severing of diplomatic relations with Germany followed. 
Ambassador Gerard was withdrawn by official order. 

On February 5, 1917, the first war steps were taken in Cleveland. The 
U. S. S. Dorothea company received orders to pack guns for immediate 
shipment. The Cleveland Red Cross Chapter called an executive session 
at the Chamber of Commerce Building, on orders from Washington. 
Lakeside Red Cross Hospital Base Unit prepared for an expected order to 
move. War had not been actually declared, but the late Ben Allen wrote 
to his paper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, that “America would soon be 
plunged into the great war.” 

A Cleveland man, Newton D. Baker, was secretary of war, and by him 
Frank A. Scott, vice president of the Warner & Swasey Company, and 
already associate member of the Naval Consulting Board, was called to 

544 " M 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


545 


Washington to confer with the authorities on the assistance that Cleveland 
manufacturers would be able to give in the event of war with Germany. 
The American Multigraph Company, the Hydraulic Pressed Steel Com¬ 
pany, the Cuyahoga Stamping & Machine Company, and the Morgan Lith¬ 
ographic Company offered to turn their plants over to the Government for 
munition manufacture in the event of war. Mr. Scott was called to 
Washington on February 8th, and on the following day Mrs. Stella M. 
Jacobi sent out a call for volunteers at the Red Cross headquarters, asking 
for 100 women a day. The call was sent out to women’s clubs or to the 
Federation of Women’s Clubs. The Research Club, Mrs. George D. 
McLeod, president, was the first to respond. Commodore Perry Chapter, 
United States Daughters of 1812, Mrs. G. Louisa Meade at the head; the 
Twentieth Century Club, Mrs. Arthur C. Curtis at its head; the Equal 



Central Armory 


Franchise Club, Mrs, Eugene D. C. Bayne, and the Lakewood Book and 

Thimble Club, followed next in quick succession. 

As an incident of this exciting period, on February 14, 1917, Donehey 
of the Cleveland Plain Dealer published a cartoon showing Bryan, LaFol- 
lette and others on the front of the stage, singing the song of “Peace at Any 
Price ” with the German kaiser down before the footlights as director. 

On April 4th Congress voted for war, and immediately Mayor Harry L. 
Davis appointed a war 1 

Myron T. Herrick 
M. F. Fisher 
S. M. Gross 
Dr. C. C. Hamann 
Ben P. Bole 
Bishop John P. Farrelly 
Eugene Grasselli 
E. H. Baker 
Edward Bushnell 
George Schneider 
W. J. Raddatz 


ard as loliows: 

James P. Walsh 

Ed S. Griffith 

V. Campanelli 

Mrs. Georgie L. Norton 

Robert E. Lewis 

Theodore Kundtz 

F. H. Goff 

Charles E. Adams 

Andrew Squire 

Dr. George W. Crile 

Charles L. Gebauer 


Rev. A. B. Meldrum 
F. W. Steffen 
Karl Bernreiter 
M. P. Mooney 
A. C. Klumph 
Miss Belle Sherwin 
Herman Fellinger 
Fred H. Caley 
Mrs. E. S. Burke 
F. Philip Dorn 
Sherman C. Kingsley 




546 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Charles A. Otis 
W. P. Palmer 
Paul Howland 
Capt. H. P. Shupe 
Solon Hart 
Rabbi Louis Wolsey 


W. P. Leach 
S. H. Holding 
P. J. Darling 
W. G. Mather 
Mrs. C. B. Tozier 
Frank Harmon 


Mrs. C. E. Brooks 
Otto Miller 
August F. Leopold 
Harry L. Vail 


This board was afterwards increased to 100 and continued its activities 
until the close of the war. It organized on April 7th, selecting Hon. Myron 
T. Herrick, the present ambassador to France, as its chairman. At the 
organization meeting Chairman Herrick said: “We should subordinate 
our business to our country, we should from now to rhe finish dedicate our 
whole service to the cause.” 

This board worked in harmony. Its only internal disturbance grew out 
of utterances said to have been made by Hon. Herman Fellinger, who was 
president of the German-American Alliance. At a meeting of the board 
on April 14th there was hot discussion in regard to the alleged utterances 
of Mr. Fellinger and a demand for his removal from the organization, but 
the diplomacy of the chairman smoothed the matter out and no action was 
taken. 

On April 4th a mass meeting was held in the Engineers’ Hall, under 
the auspices of the Cleveland Committee on War Finance. Among the 
speakers were John D. Fackler, who was chairman; A. B. DuPont, Rev. 
Minot O. Simons, Bascom Little, Hon. R. J. Bulkley, and Rev. M. H. 
Lichliter. Mrs. Harrison Ewing, with a flag draped around her, sang the 
“Marseillaise.” 

Recruiting had been in progress for some time in the city in anticipa¬ 
tion of the war, and at first only two points were provided, one under the 
direction of Maj. Henry Stamford at the Army Station, and one under 
Lieut. S. J. Logan, retired, of the Marine Corps. 

On April 6, 1917, the Lower House of Congress passed the war enact¬ 
ment, and we were at war. Soon the Red Cross headquarters at 2525 
Euclid Avenue was a whirl of activity. The men called to the colors must 
leave their work, and work must be done. Cleveland women began offering 
their services in all lines as well as in Red Cross work. One said, “I can 
drive a truck,” all agreeing to take a man’s place. These offers were made 
to Miss Kate Davis, who was appointed by Secretary of Labor Davis to 
serve on the emergency board for women’s war work. Among those who 
registered with Miss Davis was Miss Florence E. Allen, who sent in her 
name for any work for which she might be needed. Miss Allen, after 
serving most efficiently as Common Pleas judge, is now judge of the 
Supreme Court of Ohio. 

The first military unit to leave civilian life for active service in the 
war was the ship’s company of the U. S. S. Dorothea, Ohio’s naval militia. 
They went away under the command of Capt. E. J. Kelly. 

“Proudly the ship’s company of the U. S. S. Dorothea marched between 
lines of applauding thousands through downtown Cleveland, and entrained 
200 strong.” 

As in other parts of the country, at the beginning of the war, that is 
at the beginning of America’s part in the war, there was a strict watch in 
Cleveland for traitors in our midst. The White Company furnished the 
city with trucks for carrying armed troops to various points about town 
for guarding manufacturing plants, public buildings, bridges, etc. At one 
time three men were arrested having in their homes large quantities of 
guns and ammunition. These were confiscated but on the plea that they 
were collectors of firearms the men were released. 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


547 


On the theory that victory in the war depended on the crops, much 
unused land was cultivated in the city. Lawns were plowed up and 
planted but it is doubtful if the food supply of the country was greatly 
increased by this well meaning and patriotic effort. 

Many Cleveland men were called to Washington on war work. Frank 
A. Scott, whom we have mentioned, was called upon by President Wilson 
to head the munitions board and associated with him were Hon. Chester 
C. Bolton, Harry Bingham, George H. Kelly, Benedict Crowell and 
Ben. P. Bole. 

By the middle of April recruiting was active in the city, the question 
of a volunteer or selected army had not been decided. There were nine 
recruiting stations. United States Army at 54 Public Square, in charge 
of Major H. W. Stamford, United States Navy at the Federal Building 
with Lieut. J. P. Miller in charge, United States Marines at the Federal 
Building with Lieut. S. J. Logan in charge, National Guard Cavalry at 
Troop A’s Armory with Major Dudley J. Hard in charge, Ohio Engineers 
at the Williamson Building with Col. J. R. McQuigg in charge, National 
Guard Infantry at Central Armory with Lieut. F. W. Marcolin in charge, 
Officers Reserve Corps at the Public Square under the direction of Major 
H. W. Stamford, and Engineers Reserve Corps at the Federal Building 
in charge of P. S. Bond. Several other stations were added later. 

The passing of the draft measure caused a stampede to the thirteen 
recruiting station of the city and May 1st 512 applied for admission to 
the army and navy and of these 264 were examined and accepted. The 
rush became so great that a central recruiting station on the Public Square 
was established. Temporary structures were built, a tent raised, a band 
was engaged to play daily, speakers were addressing crowds and the noon 
day meetings were great patriotic assemblages. Groups of young men 
were constantly seen waiting their turn 

A women’s military training school was established at the Young 
Women’s Christian Association building with a thorough organization. 
Mrs. W. H. Corlett was president, Mrs. Isaac Bloch vice president, Mrs. 
E. F. Davis recording secretary, Mrs, H. Koons corresponding secretary, 
Mrs. F. Ingland treasurer and Mrs. Fred J. Harris chairman of the finance 
committee. Its real mission was to train young women as nurses to take 
the place of those called to the war. 

The possibility of a draft made firms anxious about the question of 
securing sufficient help. Fielder Sanders, traction commissioner, an¬ 
nounced that 652 of the 2,500 employees of the Street Railway Company 
were subject to military duty and in case of their selection their places must 
be filled. These problems entered into the many that war brought to the 
city, but the great, the overpowering problem that confronted all was the 
question of financing the great war expense. 

Cleveland or the Cleveland district subscribed of the great drive for 
the first sale of bonds of the Liberty Loan $11,130,000 and was fourth 
among the cities of the land, being exceeded only by New York, Chicago 

and Philadelphia. . , , 

The first military organization to raise the quota of men required by 
law and offer themselves to the Government in Cleveland was Company H 
of the Fifth Infantry, which was mustered in by Col. Charles X. Zimmer¬ 
man May 8, 1917. _ , OAA , , , 

The draft quota for Cleveland was first fixed at 3,800, but changed 

from time to time. . , _ . . , , 

As indicating the war spirit in the city the flags of the ten allied nations 
were displayed in the procession at the commencement exercises at Adel- 
bert College. 


548 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


Among the interesting early events may be mentioned the visit to the 
city of the labor envoys from England, James H. Thomas and Rt. Hon. 
C. W. Bowerman, who came to assist in securing harmony between capital 
and labor in the crucial war period, and the visit of Vice President Marshall, 
who addressed a great mass meeting on the Public Square May 26th. 

Patriotic parades and demonstrations were employed both to raise 
money and to encourage enlistments for although the draft was inevitable 
the regular army and the national guard must have their ranks filled by 
volunteers. On Memorial Day, May 30, 1917, the drive for volunteers 
was nearing its end and a great parade, the greatest Memorial parade in 
the history of the city, occurred. 

June 6th was registration day of young men subject to military duty 
under the congressional enactment and the registration in the city was 
103,000 and in the county outside 10,000. In the first drive for funds for 
the Red Cross, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker addressed gatherings 
in the city and the response was indicative of the loyalty and generous 
spirit of the citizens, for $2,500,000 was the result of the week’s drive. 

An incident of this period was the arrest of Waldemar Von Nostitz, 
for years chief editorial writer of the Waechter and Anzeiger, the leading 
German paper of the city. He was locked in jail as an “alien enemy” 
to be held until the close of the war. 

After the close of the sale of Liberty Bonds on June 15th the papers 
announced that 75,000 Cleveland people had purchased bonds and that the 
total was $67,500,000 and that the Cleveland Federal Reserve District had 
taken a total of $284,000,000, being third in the United States, and 
exceeded only by the New York and Chicago districts. 

On June 18, 1917, a big Red Cross drive was inaugurated. A meeting 
of leading men and women of Cleveland started the ball rolling at a dinner. 
Samuel Mather, chairman of the Red Cross War Council, and Charles 
Adams, team general, were present. At this meeting Samuel Mather made 
a personal gift of $75,000 and his brother, William G. Mather, $50,000, 
and their firm of Pickands, Mather & Company gave $200,000, and in 
one day $2,000,000 was raised. The total amount given to the Red Cross 
was some $6,000,000 in this drive. This generous outpouring indicated 
that the citizens of Cleveland were not given to “empty patriotism.” 

On July 2, 1917, it was announced in the newspapers that the city’s 
share of the forthcoming Liberty Loan would be $54,000,000. The celebra¬ 
tion on the Fourth of July following was designated by United States 
Senator Atlee Pomerene, who addressed a mass meeting at the Hippodrome 
as “the greatest Fourth of July the world has ever witnessed.” Three 
thousand of the 4,000 present at this meeting were newly naturalized 
Clevelanders. Other speakers at this meeting were Judge Manuel Levine, 
DeLo E. Mook, Mayor Harry L. Davis, and Lieut.-Col. J. R. McQuigg, 
who was later to be found on the battlefields of France, and who by his 
wonderful success in the encouragement of enlistments in the army was 
dubbed “Go Get ’Em McQuigg.” During the day Gen. Charles X. Zim¬ 
merman was in charge of patriotic services at the courthouse. In the parks 
of the city and in all the municipalities of the county were decorations and 
assembled thousands. 

The food supply became a paramount question, <md on July 6th the 
women of the city in large numbers distributed food thrift pledge cards 
to aid in conserving the food supply. The Federated churches aided in 
this work. 

W hen the draft came Cleveland was ahead of other cities in preparing 
the numbered lists of those registered under the draft law. The courthouse 
was the draft center and Starr Cadwallader was chairman of the Cuyahoga 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


549 


County Draft Board and he daily through the newspapers and personally 
was answering questions pertaining to the procedure under the law. 

On July 12, 1917, announcement was made of the appointment of John 

R. McQuigg as colonel of the First Regiment of Ohio Engineers, and 
Dr. A. Lincoln Moore as chaplain. On this day Miss Carrera, daughter of 
Anna Held, spoke on the Public Square following a parade of the Engi¬ 
neers’ recruiting force. The First Regiment went into camp at Gordon 
Park, near the statue of Commodore Perry, an incident that seemed to 
suggest victory. They began their career as soldiers July 16th. 

The county registration in the draft was 111,687 and the city 102,846. 
The city’s quota was 8,100, more than one-fifth of the quota for the whole 
State of Ohio. From this registration the drawing of 10,500 names was 
followed by examinations as to the fitness for service and disqualifications 
for various reasons. The first man accepted was Harry V. Oberlin, who 
had the distinction of being the first man in the state accepted for the new 
National army. 

About the time of the draft Frank A. Scott, who had been serving on 
the United States Munitions Board, was made a member of the War 
Industries Board. The goodbyes to the boys as they went to camp from 
time to time was characterized by a dignified calm. It was a serious busi¬ 
ness and this character was stamped on the community. Little was known 
of the whereabouts of our soldiers after leaving camp for the front as 
there was necessarily a strict censorship maintained. The people at home 
were busy with the new problems brought on by the war, and in the 
various agencies by which they could aid in the prosecution of the war. 

On August 3, 1917, an office at the Red Cross headquarters at 2525 
Euclid Avenue was opened for the registration and organization of volun¬ 
teer workers. Mrs. Stephenson Burke, Jr., head of the Red Cross Chapter, 
and Mrs. Charles A. Otis were in charge of this work. Federal agents 
were busy rounding up “slackers” and twenty were arrested the first day 
the campaign began. On August 5th Cleveland guardsman and all National 
Guard organizations were made members of the United States regular 
army. On August 11th, 3,000 soldiers left Cleveland for camp and 100,000 
men and women lined the curbs for seventy blocks to see them off. Mayor 
Davis and city officials saluted and extended felicitations. Gen. Charles X. 
Zimmerman was marshal of the parade. Among the Cleveland men to 
receive commissions were Captains Sterling E. Graham, Wilber N. Albert¬ 
son, Clifford C. Crafts, Richard T. F. Harding, Philip W. McAbee, William 
P Edmonds, Chandler Montgomery, John B. Dempsey, Herbert N. Smith, 
Charles L. Krum, Luke P. Wolford, Collin McAllister, Charles D. Gentsch, 
Edwin P Westenhaver, William K. Gunn, Cary B. Moon, John J. McLeod, 
Ir Henry S. Chapman, Samuel A. Feller, George T. Smith, David K. 
Ford, Joseph A. Fortin, Audley M. Post, Reuben B. Lawrence, Edward P. 
Rudolph, and Melvin Christopher. . 

An incident indicating the enthusiasm of the home workers is deserving 
of mention. An appeal was sent out by the Navy Department for surgical 
dressing*. The Cleveland women got in their quota, twenty-four cases, in 
four days although the order specified two weeks The response from 

S. M. Green, director of chapter activities, was as follows: 


“We cannot express our appreciation too strongly for the 
prompt and splendid response of the Cleveland Chapter in filling 
its quota of medical supplies for the United States Navy. 


The chapter also sent 390 comfort kits to the Third Regiment, formerly 
the Cleveland Grays. 


Vol. 1-18 


550 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


We should mention the appointment of Bert M. Crandall of Cleveland 
as junior officer of the United States steamship Wittekind, located, when 
the appointment was made, “somewhere in the Atlantic/’ and the fact that 
Gen. Clarence R. Edwards of Cleveland was in command of the first con¬ 
tingent of the National Guard to go to France. 

The comfort and well being of the soldier boys in camp and at the front 
soon became a paramount question and something to lighten the dreary life 
of the soldier was in the minds of many. The question of insurance as 
enacted by the Government was discussed in public meetings. The Cleve¬ 
land Public Library was designated as one of the twelve collection centers 
for the collection of books for the army. 

Like other parts of the United States, Cleveland was not exempt from 
traitors in the rear. On September 3, 1917, C. E. Ruthenberg, socialist 
candidate for mayor, addressed an audience at Luna Park and during the 
course of his speech denounced the war and the Government of the 
United States for engaging in it. Immediately soldiers in uniform jumped 
upon the stage, broke up the meeting and then engaged in patriotic dem¬ 
onstrations. 

On October 1, 1917, the second campaign for the sale of Liberty Bonds 
began. Secretary of the Treasury William G. McAdoo spoke on the Public 
Square. In the first campaign 114,000 persons subscribed for bonds, but 
now with a quota of $60,000,000 it was announced that it would be neces¬ 
sary for 250,000 to subscribe. 

The quota asked from the Cleveland Federal Reserve District was 
$300,000,000. The city objective was $80,000,000. D. C. Wills, chairman 
of the Federal Reserve Board of the Cleveland District, announced that 
their objective would be $400,000,000. At the meeting referred to Mr. 
McAdoo was introduced by Mayor Davis, who spoke briefly. Homer H. 
McKeehan delivered a ringing address and at its close Tris Speaker, man¬ 
ager of the Cleveland Baseball Club, came forward and subscribed for the 
first bond, $1,000. Responding to frequent calls he made a brief speech. 
During the course of the meeting a street car and trailer, gaily decorated in 
red, white and blue, circled about the meeting. There was a flag raising 
and Mr. McAdoo assisted by Sergt. Ben H. Bird and Priv. H. Leim- 
kuhler of the United States Army, and Chief Gunner’s Mate Joseph 
Jelinowski and Seaman J. Eisner of the United States Navy, raised the flags. 

A great day in this loan drive was October 25, 1917, when former 
Ambassador Gerrard spoke in Cleveland. This date was designated Liberty 
Day and $14,000,000 was the day’s harvest in the sale of bonds. On this 
date the city reached its quota. There was a parade also in celebration 
of the fact that the $60,000,000 had been subscribed. 

On October 28th Cleveland reached its objective of $80,000,000, an 
over-subscription of $20,000,000. 

Parades and mass meetings were the order from this time and Novem¬ 
ber 10th was designated as “Mercy Day,’’ when 8,000 women with Red 
Cross flags over their shoulders marched in a parade that wound up with a 
mass meeting. 

A campaign to raise funds for the Young Men’s Christian Association 
was inaugurated and $1,378,127 was the total received. This was swelled 
somewhat by contributions after the active campaign closed^ 

The coal shortage made the people at home realize that war was on and 
on December 14, 1917, the schools and 100 manufacturing plants of the 
city were closed. The shortage of cars was the principal cause of the coal 
shortage but soon coal came and the young idea began to shoot again and 
the furnaces were lighted. 

The censorship gave the people at home little news of their absent 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


551 


soldieis, but occasionally a bit would seep through the lines and get home. 
On December 29, 1917, word was received that Dr. (Major) George W. 
Crile, Lieut.-Col. H. L. Gilchrist and three nurses, Miss Inez McKee, Miss 
Grace Allison and Miss Helen Briggs of the Lakeside unit had been cited 
for bravery by Field Marshal Haig, commander-in-chief of the British 
forces. 

In the early part of the year 1918, with more of our boys at the front, 
there was less patience with the expressions of pro-German sentiments on 
the part of some of our citizens. Pres. Arthur L. Breslich of German 
Wallace College, Berea, was called upon the carpet by a committee of 
Methodist bishops after a petition, signed by 150 students asking for his 
removal had been presented. While his examination was in progress 200 
students with American, English and French flags, guns and bayonets, 
marched under the windows where the investigation was held, singing “The 
Star Spangled Banner.” In their march through the town they were wildly 
cheered. The report of the investigators included this paragraph: “That 
President Arthur L. Breslich of Bald win-Wallace College be relieved of 
all relations to the institution for the present.” He was never returned. 

In conserving the fuel supply, Federal Administrator Harry R. Garfield 
ordered a six-day week, or as it was called, a heatless Monday. This was 
varied to make the days Tuesday in some instances. The exemptions were 
churches, clubs that served meals, banks, restaurants, stores selling food¬ 
stuffs, drug stores, markets, to close at noon; street cars, libraries, shops on 
war work, doctors and dentists offices, coal dealers, railroad offices, horse¬ 
shoeing shops and spectacle repair shops for immediate repairs only, and 
illuminating companies plants. This saving of the fuel supply enabled 
the relationship between supply and demand to right itself but it brought 
to the people also the fact that everyone was touched by the great war. 

On February 16, 1918, Captain Gasiorowski with forty-one recruiting 
officers interested in raising a Polish army in America came to Cleveland 
and addressed a mass meeting at Gray’s Armory. Among the speakers 
at this meeting were Paderewski, the great pianist; Countess Gozdawi 
Turczynowicz, an American girl, wife of a Polish nobleman, and who had 
achieved much notoriety by the publication of “When the Prussians Came 
to Poland.” Mayor Davis presided and extended the greetings of the city 
to the visitors. 

On March 28th two members of the city council, Noah C. Mandelkorn 
and John G. Willert, were expelled from that body on charges of dis¬ 
loyalty to the Government. The vote stood twenty-three to two, only the 
accused members themselves voting against their expulsion. The council 
immediately filled the places of the members expelled by electing John 
Braschwitz and Daniel Carroll to fill the places left vacant. 

On April 6, 1918, the people of Chagrin Falls, who had abolished the 
study of German in the public schools, burned the German kaiser in effigy 
and fed the flames with German textbooks. * *«nnnnnn 

The third Liberty Loan placed the quota for Cleveland at $55,UOU,UUU. 
At a mass meeting in Central Armory a short time after the campaign 
opened Mayor Davis announced that one-half of the quota had already 
been subscribed. On April 6th the city had passed the $17,000,000 mark 
and figures were given daily of the result. At one of the firstineetings 
Mrs E C T Miller reported from her division with $150,UOU. the 
rnardian Building reported $170,000, the Brotherhood of Locomotive 
Engineers reported Subscriptions totaling $200,000, the Union Paper & 
tX clmimCreported $75,000, the Weideman Company $50,000 Otis 
& Company $125,000, the Cleveland Trust Company $100,000, the Cleve- 


552 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


land Metal Products Company $100,000, and three anonymous subscrip¬ 
tions were reported totaling $175,000. 

The people had been called upon so frequently that the third loan 
dragged and on April 19, 1918 Samuel Gompers, head of the American 
Federation of Labor, and Douglas Fairbanks, idol of the screen, addressed 
a mass meeting at the Central Armory to stir up enthusiasm. On April 25th 
George A. Schneider of the Cleveland Athletic Club by the aid of two 
marines raised the total by selling at the Hippodrome in an interval during 
a performance $103,000 to the audience. During the campaign Secretary 
of War Newton D. Baker addressed a mass meeting at the Central Armory 
and the following day former President Taft spoke to an immense crowd 
at the same place. These meetings increased the sale of bonds greatly. 

It was about this time that Charles F. DeWoody of the Department of 
Justice recommended to his department the suppression of the Waechter 
and Anzeiger. The general sentiment of the community was that the 
paper should be Americanized rather than suppressed. No action was 
taken by the Government after further investigation, but the feeling 
aroused led to an appeal being sent to Governor Cox asking the repeal of 
certain old laws requiring the publication of legal notices in the German 
papers and under which laws the Waechter and Anzeiger had been greatly 
benefited. 

An event of the war period was the visit to Cleveland of the “Blue 
Devils” of France. They were fresh from the battlefields where thousands 
of American boys were engaged and they took the city by storm. When 
after an inspiring programme at the Armory the French buglers sounded 
“assembly” several hundred young women rushed upon the stage and 
showered the French soldiers with flowers. Lieutenant Benois, in com¬ 
mand, said: “We’d like to be captured by this kind of an army every day.” 

The sale of thrift stamps became a method of raising war funds during 
the latter part of the war period. On June 8th in connection with this 
work there was a great parade of boys and girls in the city carrying ban¬ 
ners and singing songs of victory, one of the stunts engaged in was the 
nailing of Kaiser Bill in his coffin with thrift stamp nails. By June 18th 
the sale of thrift stamps reached its height following a great “Freedom 
Fete” at Wade Park. One hundred and fifty thousand people gathered 
in the park to witness this pageant, which gave as its central motto “Free¬ 
dom for All Forever.” 

On June 30th, 1918, Eugene V. Debs, four times the socialistic candi¬ 
date for President, was arrested in Cleveland charged with violation of 
the espionage act. The arrest took place at the Bohemian Gardens where 
Debs was to address a meeting. He had previously been indicted by the 
Federal grand jury in Cleveland on charges growing out of an address 
delivered at Canton, Ohio. His sentence to prison and subsequent release 
by President Harding is a matter of general history. 

bourth of July, 1918, was a great day in Cleveland. The parade in¬ 
cluded men speaking thirty different languages. Floats and banners with 
war mottoes were much in evidence. The grand marshal was H. P. Shupe. 
Mayor Davis, Myron T. Herrick, chairman, and others of the mayor’s war 
board were on the reviewing stand. Shortly after it was charged that the 
Anzeiger or Waechter and Anzeiger were publishing garbled reports of the 
successes of the German forces in France. The English daily papers soon 
published reports of the successes of the American forces in France, and 
then began to come the casualty lists that were scanned with that interest 
that a father, mother, sister, brother or sweetheart only knows. 

I he first death list that was published in the Cleveland papers was short, 
consisting of seven Cleveland boys, John C. ICulowiak, Martin T. Moran! 


THE CITY OF CLEVELAND 


553 


Joseph Peterson, Frank Kletzky, John Cielaskiewicz, Joseph Kostalek and 
Walter H. Rasmusson. 

On August 18, 1918, American and British aviators gave an air exhibi¬ 
tion in the city or rather over the city. Ten days later the Sunday use of 
automobiles was stopped for pleasure occasions to conserve the supply of 
gasoline. On August 30th it was announced that in June and July by its 
meatless days Greater Cleveland had saved enough meat to give four mil¬ 
lion people each one-half pound of beef, pork or mutton. 

As incidental to the war period on September a daily mail by airplane 
was inaugurated in the city. September 10th former Secretary McAdoo 
came to the city to inspect the railroads under Government management, 
and September 24th Rose Moriarity addressed a mass meeting in connec¬ 
tion with sending a request to Secretary of Labor Wilson asking him to 
rescind his order barring women from serving as conductors on street cars. 

The inaugural of the campaign for the fourth Liberty Loan was un¬ 
paralleled in its elaborate arrangements. The city’s quota had been fixed 
at $112,100,950 (one hundred and twelve million, one hundred thousand, 
nine hundred and fifty dollars). 

A war industries exposition on the Public Square was one of the lead¬ 
ing features. Charles A. Paine, director of loan campaigns, Mayor John J. 
Sullivan and others spoke daily on the Square. The parade that traversed 
the city was lead by Sousa’s Band with 305 pieces. The first subscription 
was that of the Citizens Savings and Trust Company, now a part of the 
Union Trust Company, for $450,000. Among the throngs that were out in 
that interesting campaign were wounded soldiers back from the firing line. 

The campaign dragged for a while but the totals were announced from 
day to day. Finally the cry was sent forth for every one to double their 
subscriptions, and these were published as well. Among the first to lead 
in this movement were the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company increasing from 
$1,000,000 to $2,000,000, the White Motor Company, from $1,000,000 to 
$2,000,000, Samuel Mather from $500,000 to $1,000,000, E. S. Burke, Jr., 
from $250,000 to $500,000, the Cleveland Akron Bag Company from 
$200 000 to $400,000, Price McKinney from $250,000 to $500,000, and 
the Plain Dealer Publishing Company from $120,000 to $240,000. There 
were many others from day to day announced and many large individual 
subscriptions as well as that of the Russian girl who saved weekly from 
her small wages to aid the cause of her adopted country and pay for a fifty- 
dollar bond. From day to day the totals were published until, on October 
20th the loan went over the top by $7,000,000. 

On October 30. 1918, it was announced that C. A. Grasselh had given 
his home on East 55th Street as a home for blinded soldiers. 


The news of the abdication of the German Kaiser caused much rejoic¬ 
ing which came on November 10th, and then of the capture of a squad 
of German soldiers by Lieut. William W. Dawson of Cleveland single- 
handed, which seemed to indicate that the war was coming to a close. 

Mnn^av November 11. 1918, news of the surrender of Germany 



554 


CUYAHOGA COUNTY AND 


morning. As the day advanced the furor increased. Factory trucks, 
gaily decorated, carried their workmen and workwomen, and traffic was 
in a hopeless tangle, but no one cared, they kept up the celebration. 

There was never such a display of flags in the city. Every American flag 

in the town was out as well as the flags of the Allies. Even the flag 

of the newest nation, the Czecho-Slovak flag, was flying. Red lights on 

the tops of buildings lit up the town as did the bonfires of pioneer days, 
but more completely. 

A reporter on a Cleveland paper closed his account of the celebration 
with these words: “The day probably will be recorded in history as the 
greatest since time began. Certainly Cleveland has written into her annals 
her wildest, noisiest and altogether most remarkable day.” 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 


I he writer wishes to thank the members of the Board of Advisory 
Editors for valuable suggestions in the preparation of this work. 

1 he files of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Cleveland News and 
Leader, the Cleveland Press and the Town Topics have been consulted. 

The books consulted include “Fugitive Papers,” by Col. Charles Whit¬ 
tlesey; “History of the Western Reserve,” by Harriet Taylor Upton; 
“History of Cleveland,” by James H. Kennedy; “History of Cleveland 
and Its Environs,” by Elroy M. Avery; “The Western Reserve of Ohio,” 
by Mrs. W. G. Rose; “Pioneers of the Western Reserve,” by Harvey 
Rice; “The Comic History of Cleveland,” by a Student Committee of the 
Western Reserve University and Case School of Applied Science; “His¬ 
tory of Cleveland,” by Charles Orth; “History of Cleveland,” by W..Scott 
Robinson; “Early History of Cleveland,” by Col. Charles Whittlesey; 
“History of Cuyahoga County,” by Crisfield Johnson; “Cleveland Illus¬ 
trated,” by William Payne; “Howe’s Historical Collection;” “Centennial 
Celebration of Cleveland,” by Edward A* Roberts; “Women of Cleveland,” 
by Mrs. W. A. Ingham; “Unpublished Memoirs,” by Jane Elliott Snow; 
“Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument,” by William J. Glea¬ 
son ; “Reports of the State Archaeological and Historical Society,” “Annals 
of the Early Settlers’ Association,” “The Bench and Bar of Cleveland,” by 
James H. Kennedy and Wilson M. Day; “The Bench and Bar of Northern 
Ohio,” by Judge William B. Neff; “Reminiscences,” by O. J. Hodge; 
“Voigtlander and I,” by James F. Ryder; and “Twenty Years on the 
Lecture Platform,” by Dr. James Hedley. 

To the Western Reserve Historical Society, the Cleveland Public 
Library and especially its Clipping Bureau, and to Case Library our thanks 
are due for uniform courtesy and assistance. 


555 








































































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